Self service demand side platform for broadcast media ad exchange

ABSTRACT

A selection of a broadcast media ad network and a set of parameters including one or both of a goal and a constraint associated with an advertising campaign is received. Based at least in part on said selection and said set of parameters an advertising proposal, the advertising proposal is determined including an identification of a set of broadcasters associated with the selected broadcast media ad network and for each a corresponding advertising plan portion of the advertising proposal. Information representing the advertising proposal is caused to be displayed at a node from which said selection and set of parameters were received.

CROSS REFERENCE TO OTHER APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/151,805 entitled SELF SERVICE DEMAND SIDE TOOLS FOR LINEARBROADCAST AD EXCHANGE filed Apr. 23, 2015 which is incorporated hereinby reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Broadcast networks such as those in radio and television offeradvertising spots to finance operations. The matching of advertisingspots to advertisements in a broadcast network differs from the matchingin other media, such as online advertising, at least in part because ofthe nature of planning broadcast schedules in advance and the one-wayone-to-many nature of a broadcast network. Determining advertising spotsin broadcast networks is currently a complex and manual process thatdoes not necessarily maximize benefit to either advertiser orbroadcaster.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the followingdetailed description and the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional diagram illustrating a programmed computer systemfor broadcast advertising in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a hierarchical diagram illustrating example parties involvedin the creation and placement of an ad for broadcast.

FIG. 3A is an illustration depicting radio broadcast dayparts.

FIG. 3B are illustrations depicting dynamic inventory.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating a traditional broadcast system.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating an example of asidecar-appliance broadcast system.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of remnant proration for a daypartdistributor.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a flow chart for a dynamic advertisingplacement.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of a flow chart for selection of advertisingspots.

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are block diagrams of advertising exchange systems.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of a flow chart for an advertising exchangesystem.

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are screenshots for a user interface for a demandside platform.

FIG. 11 is a screenshot for a user interface for a demand side platformworkbench.

FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D, 12E, 12F, 12G, 12H, and 12I are screenshotsdetailing a sequence of user interfaces for a demand side platformplanning routine.

FIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C are screenshots detailing a sequence of userinterfaces for a demand side platform overview.

FIG. 14 is a screenshot to show booking a plan with less than fullhealth.

FIG. 15 is a screenshot to show replanning a booked plan.

FIGS. 16A, 16B, and 16C are screenshots detailing a sequence of userinterfaces for a demand side platform campaign.

FIG. 17 is an illustration of a flow chart for a demand side platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as aprocess; an apparatus; a system; a composition of matter; a computerprogram product embodied on a computer readable storage medium; and/or aprocessor, such as a processor configured to execute instructions storedon and/or provided by a memory coupled to the processor. In thisspecification, these implementations, or any other form that theinvention may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, theorder of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within thescope of the invention. Unless stated otherwise, a component such as aprocessor or a memory described as being configured to perform a taskmay be implemented as a general component that is temporarily configuredto perform the task at a given time or a specific component that ismanufactured to perform the task. As used herein, the term ‘processor’refers to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing coresconfigured to process data, such as computer program instructions.

A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention isprovided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate theprinciples of the invention. The invention is described in connectionwith such embodiments, but the invention is not limited to anyembodiment. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims andthe invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications andequivalents. Numerous specific details are set forth in the followingdescription in order to provide a thorough understanding of theinvention. These details are provided for the purpose of example and theinvention may be practiced according to the claims without some or allof these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technicalmaterial that is known in the technical fields related to the inventionhas not been described in detail so that the invention is notunnecessarily obscured.

A self service demand side platform for a broadcast media ad exchange isdisclosed. In one embodiment, a demand side platform is ‘self service’in that it allows advertisers and ad agencies to directly interface witha broadcast media ad exchange. In one embodiment, demand side platformand its buying experience comprise: an application store for picking adnetworks and/or spot markets; an application store for data providersfor applicable markets; allowing a different audience data book thanthat based on Nielsen and using that for planning; different RFP screensfor different marketplaces/data; providing rich results and/or export ofdata; and enabling different ad campaign actions like canceling acampaign, replanning a campaign, splitting a campaign, and deleting acampaign. Traditionally these demand side tools have been done via abroker or middleman service that may inefficiently add time and/or costto broadcast advertising.

Any person having ordinary skill in the art will recognize that whilecertain examples are given throughout this specification for radiobroadcast networks and/or stations and corresponding audio media,without loss of generality the same principles and disclosed techniquesmay be applied to television broadcast networks and/or stations andcorresponding video media. Without loss of generality throughout thisspecification “broadcasting” refers generally to the distribution ofaudio, video, and/or multimedia content in a one-to-many model via anyelectronic mass communications medium or combination of media includingelectromagnetic spectrum, over the air/terrestrial media,cable/coaxial/wired media, satellite transmission media, and/or computerreadable media. Broadcasting may also refer to print broadcasting.

Thus, throughout this specification, “media” may refer to any form ofinformation transmission, for example radio, television, othercommunication using electromagnetic waves, cable, and/or computertransmissions. Throughout this specification, “users” refer to anyconsumers of the content, including listeners and viewers of thecontent. Throughout this specification, “broadcast” may refer to anyone-to-many communication, including: radio broadcast, terrestrial radiobroadcast, satellite radio broadcast, cable radio broadcast, digitalradio broadcast, television broadcast, terrestrial television broadcast,satellite television broadcast, cable television broadcast, digitaltelevision broadcast, broadcast over electromagnetic waves, broadcastover electromagnetic signals, broadcast over coaxial cable, broadcastover twisted pair cable, broadcast via dynamic billboards or signs, andstreaming broadcast over internet protocols.

Any person having ordinary skill in the art will recognize that whilecertain examples are given throughout this specification for radiobroadcast networks and/or stations and corresponding audio media,without loss of generality the same principles and disclosed techniquesmay be applied to television broadcast networks and/or stations andcorresponding video media. Without loss of generality throughout thisspecification “broadcasting” refers generally to the distribution ofaudio, video, and/or multimedia content in a one-to-many model via anyelectronic mass communications medium or combination of media includingelectromagnetic spectrum, over the air/terrestrial media,cable/coaxial/wired media, satellite transmission media, streaming,and/or computer readable media. Broadcasting may also refer to printbroadcasting.

The example of radio is given now, but these principles may be appliedfor example to television similarly.

FIG. 1 is a functional diagram illustrating a programmed computer systemfor broadcast advertising in accordance with some embodiments. As shown,FIG. 1 provides a functional diagram of a general purpose computersystem programmed to execute broadcast advertising in accordance withsome embodiments. As will be apparent, other computer systemarchitectures and configurations can be used to execute broadcastadvertising. Computer system 100, which includes various subsystems asdescribed below, includes at least one microprocessor subsystem, alsoreferred to as a processor or a central processing unit (“CPU”) 102. Forexample, processor 102 can be implemented by a single-chip processor orby multiple cores and/or processors. In some embodiments, processor 102is a general purpose digital processor that controls the operation ofthe computer system 100. Using instructions retrieved from memory 110,the processor 102 controls the reception and manipulation of input data,and the output and display of data on output devices, for exampledisplay 118.

Processor 102 is coupled bi-directionally with memory 110, which caninclude a first primary storage, typically a random-access memory(“RAM”), and a second primary storage area, typically a read-only memory(“ROM”). As is well known in the art, primary storage can be used as ageneral storage area and as scratch-pad memory, and can also be used tostore input data and processed data. Primary storage can also storeprogramming instructions and data, in the form of data objects and textobjects, in addition to other data and instructions for processesoperating on processor 102. Also as well known in the art, primarystorage typically includes basic operating instructions, program code,data and objects used by the processor 102 to perform its functions, forexample programmed instructions. For example, primary storage devices110 can include any suitable computer-readable storage media, describedbelow, depending on whether, for example, data access needs to bebi-directional or uni-directional. For example, processor 102 can alsodirectly and very rapidly retrieve and store frequently needed data in acache memory, not shown. The processor 102 may also include acoprocessor (not shown) as a supplemental processing component to aidthe processor and/or memory 110.

A removable mass storage device 112 provides additional data storagecapacity for the computer system 100, and is coupled eitherbi-directionally (read/write) or uni-directionally (read only) toprocessor 102. For example, storage 112 can also includecomputer-readable media such as magnetic tape, flash memory, PC-CARDS,portable mass storage devices, holographic storage devices, and otherstorage devices. A fixed mass storage 120 can also, for example, provideadditional data storage capacity. The most common example of massstorage 120 is a hard-disk drive. Mass storage 112, 120 generally storeadditional programming instructions, data, and the like that typicallyare not in active use by the processor 102. It will be appreciated thatthe information retained within mass storage 112, 120 can beincorporated, if needed, in standard fashion as part of primary storage110, for example RAM, as virtual memory.

In addition to providing processor 102 access to storage subsystems, bus114 can be used to provide access to other subsystems and devices aswell. As shown, these can include a display monitor 118, a networkinterface 116, a keyboard 104, and a pointing device 106, as well as anauxiliary input/output device interface, a sound card, speakers, andother subsystems as needed. For example, the pointing device 106 can bea mouse, stylus, track ball, or tablet, and is useful for interactingwith a graphical user interface.

The network interface 116 allows processor 102 to be coupled to anothercomputer, computer network, or telecommunications network using anetwork connection as shown. For example, through the network interface116, the processor 102 can receive information, for example data objectsor program instructions, from another network, or output information toanother network in the course of performing method/process steps.Information, often represented as a sequence of instructions to beexecuted on a processor, can be received from and outputted to anothernetwork. An interface card or similar device and appropriate softwareimplemented by, for example executed/performed on, processor 102 can beused to connect the computer system 100 to an external network andtransfer data according to standard protocols. For example, variousprocess embodiments disclosed herein can be executed on processor 102,or can be performed across a network such as the Internet, intranetnetworks, or local area networks, in conjunction with a remote processorthat shares a portion of the processing. Throughout this specification“network” refers to any interconnection between computer componentsincluding the Internet, Ethernet, intranet, local-area network (“LAN”),home-area network (“HAN”), serial connection, parallel connection,wide-area network (“WAN”), Fibre Channel, PCI/PCI-X, AGP, VLbus, PCIExpress, Expresscard, Infiniband, ACCESS.bus, Wireless LAN, WiFi,HomePNA, Optical Fibre, G.hn, infrared network, satellite network,microwave network, cellular network, virtual private network (“VPN”),Universal Serial Bus (“USB”), FireWire, Serial ATA, 1-Wire, UNI/O, orany form of connecting homogenous, heterogeneous systems and/or groupsof systems together. Additional mass storage devices, not shown, canalso be connected to processor 102 through network interface 116.

An auxiliary I/O device interface, not shown, can be used in conjunctionwith computer system 100. The auxiliary I/O device interface can includegeneral and customized interfaces that allow the processor 102 to sendand, more typically, receive data from other devices such asmicrophones, touch-sensitive displays, transducer card readers, tapereaders, voice or handwriting recognizers, biometrics readers, cameras,portable mass storage devices, and other computers.

In addition, various embodiments disclosed herein further relate tocomputer storage products with a computer readable medium that includesprogram code for performing various computer-implemented operations. Thecomputer-readable medium is any data storage device that can store datawhich can thereafter be read by a computer system. Examples ofcomputer-readable media include, but are not limited to, all the mediamentioned above: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, andmagnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical mediasuch as optical disks; and specially configured hardware devices such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (“ASIC”s), programmable logicdevices (“PLD”s), and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of program codeinclude both machine code, as produced, for example, by a compiler, orfiles containing higher level code, for example a script, that can beexecuted using an interpreter.

The computer system shown in FIG. 1 is but an example of a computersystem suitable for use with the various embodiments disclosed herein.Other computer systems suitable for such use can include additional orfewer subsystems. In addition, bus 114 is illustrative of anyinterconnection scheme serving to link the subsystems. Other computerarchitectures having different configurations of subsystems can also beutilized.

Advertising and Broadcast.

FIG. 2 is a hierarchical diagram illustrating example parties involvedin the creation and placement of an ad for broadcast. A nationalAdvertiser 202 has one or more products, services, and/or messages asadvertising on broadcast media. Advertiser 202 retains an ad agency 204to develop the ad campaign. For the purposes of this specification thead campaign may be a national campaign or a regional campaign. An adcampaign may include one or more Request For Proposal (“RFP”)specifications. An RFP specification may include targeting information,including demographics, markets, market characteristics, weeks, andperiods of each week. An RFP specification may also include sizingspecifications, including a flexible combination of budget limit,impressions goal, or impressions per price rate limiters. Impressionsand/or impacts are a measure of the audience of a station when an ad isbroadcast, and are statistically determined by companies such asArbitron/Nielsen via diary or automated listeners, for example by thehour. An RFP may request impressions in terms of Gross Ratings Points(“GRP”s) in a specific demographic wherein 1 GRP is 1% of the nationalpopulation within the specific demographic. For example if an adcampaign requests 2 GRPs for women aged 18-45, and it is determined that65 million women are aged 18-45 nationally, then the ad campaignrequests 2% of 65 million or 1.3 million impressions within thatdemographic.

The ad campaign also comprises one or more ad-creative assets, forexample audio creative suitable for a radio ad, video creative suitablefor television, and online creative suitable for internet distribution.In some embodiments, advertiser 202 comprises an internal ad agency team204 within the same corporation.

Ad agency 204 then retains an ad network 206 for publication and/ordistribution of the ad campaign. An ad network 206 manages a portion ofthe placement spots available on multiple broadcast stations 210. Eachbroadcast station 210 may be independent of the ad network 206 or may bepart of the ad network 206. The ad network 206's inventory is thecollection of placement spots available on the broadcast media of eachbroadcast station 210. As will be further elaborated, each spotcomprises a position, for example a day of week and/or a daypart (forexample, ‘AM Drivetime’, ‘lunch’, ‘PM Drivetime’, or ‘evening’). Adnetwork 206's inventory may be acquired based on direct affiliation withspecific broadcast stations 210 and/or may be acquired based onaffiliation with station groups 208 comprising multiple broadcaststations 210.

The Ad Network.

Radio stations typically have relatively fixed ad breaks, typicallytwice per hour. A full break might be 5 minutes long, with 4 minutes ofadvertising. Stations 210 attempt to fill most of each ad break withlocal advertisers as these tend to pay substantially more to the station210 than national-product advertising by advertisers 202. However,stations 210 usually do not have enough demand to fully fill thead-placement spots they have. These ad spots are thus called a station'sinventory. The station 210 will thus contract out a portion of theirinventory to an ad network 206. The ad network 206 mediates between alarge group of stations 208, 210 and national advertisers 202. An adnetwork 206 may be necessary because the logistical overhead ofadvertisers 202 interacting directly with stations 210 would beprohibitive for both stations 210 and advertisers 202.

Station Inventory.

FIG. 3A is an illustration depicting radio broadcast dayparts. In aradio embodiment, the station 210 typically provides the ad network 206with inventory for each week, for example twenty-eight pieces ofinventory. Each of the seven days of the week has an inventory for fourtypical dayparts: AM Drive (referring to the morning drive time to workfor commuters), Midday, PM Drive (also known as afternoon drive time),and Evening. An inventory is specified by giving the part of the week itcovers called a “daypart” 302, the number of ad breaks it contains andthe seconds duration each break is to last.

For example, an inventory might cover the “Monday 5a-10a” daypart(referring to 5 am to 10 am on Monday), and contain two 60-secondbreaks. This would indicate that the station agrees to play one minuteof the network's ad content (an “ad break” from the network'sperspective) at two points during the daypart Monday 5a-10a. However,the station 210 does not explicitly state when they will play thebreaks, only that they will not play them too close together, forexample within 25 minutes of each other. The coarseness of the contractallows the station 210 to retain some flexibility with where it placesits network ads, while still allowing the network 206 to placeadvertisers' ads into the part of the day they desire.

Dynamic Station Inventory.

FIG. 3B are illustrations depicting dynamic inventory. Dynamic inventoryrefers to an inventory/supply that may change over time as third partyad network 210, for example ones using traditional placement, remove orput back inventory into a total inventory.

In one embodiment, a “meets in the middle” dynamic inventory is used: athird-party ad network and/or station group has a total stationinventory/station group inventory 350 that it makes completely availableto an ad network 210 using disclosed techniques for advertisingplacement. The third-party ad network and/or station group placements354 reduce total inventory 350 just as the ad network 210 placements 356reduce total inventory. In this embodiment little or no ads are reservedat the beginning of a placement cycle to the third-party ad networkand/or station group. At a point, for example two weeks before abroadcast time, the remaining inventory available to the ad network 352is split between the two groups to “meet in the middle” whether themiddle refers to a straight 50% split of total inventory 350, remaininginventory 352, or any other threshold/dynamically calculated multiplebesides 50%.

In an alternate embodiment, a “relaxing” dynamic inventory is used: athird-party ad network and/or station group has a total stationinventory/station group inventory 370 that it makes a percentageavailable 372 to an ad network 210 using disclosed techniques foradvertising placement. The remaining percentage is not made available toad network 210 in an effort for internal/other sales. At a period of“relaxing”, for example two weeks before a broadcast time, the remaininginventory 374 not consumed by placements is released to the ad network210 and may be split between the two groups using a similar split as the“meets in the middle” dynamic inventory.

A Single Campaign.

A broadcast network 206 may represent inventory from hundreds orthousands of stations 210. When an advertiser 202 approaches them aboutrunning an ad campaign, the advertiser 202 may specify directly orindirectly what demographic, for example Women 18-49 or w18-49, anddaypart they would like to play in and how many impressions they wouldlike to get. The advertiser may specify a wide daypart such asMonday-Friday 5a-10a; that is, a daypart does not need to be on a singleday. The daypart can also be complex, specifying several parts of theweek: “Monday-Friday 5a-10a; Monday-Friday 3p-8p”. The network 206 thendetermines how large a campaign they can sell the advertiser 202 andpresents the plan to them as a proposal. If the advertiser approves, theplan becomes booked.

In one embodiment, a campaign plan moves between four business-processstates: saved, proposed, reserved, and booked:

-   -   Saved—When the ad network 206 has formed a plan but has not yet        presented it to an advertiser 202 for their approval, the plan        is “saved”. Because a saved plan has not been externally        published yet, the network 206 is typically free to alter it as        much as they want.    -   Proposed—Once the ad network 206 presents a plan to an        advertiser 202 for their approval, the plan is “proposed”.        Proposing the plan means that the network 206 gives up much of        its flexibility to alter the plan going forward. However, as the        plan has not yet been committed to by the advertiser 202, the        network 206 does not reserve the inventory the plan uses.    -   Reserved—Often times, the network 206 has reason to be confident        that an advertiser 202 is likely to approve a plan, or at least,        a plan very similar to it. In that case, the network 206 can go        ahead and reserve the inventory while they wait for approval to        be sure that no other plans end up taking those inventory spots.    -   Booked—Once the advertiser 202 has committed to a plan, it is        booked, which means that the plan, in addition to reserving        certain spots, is approved to actually play as well.

Typically, when a broadcast station 210 fills up their advertising spotswith ad-campaign placements, they quickly run out of space and may notfit additional campaigns into the fragmented bits of inventoryremaining. The fragmented bits that remain may not be used because eachadvertiser 202 prefers to have their campaign to play a substantialamount within specific dayparts. This station 210 level fragmentationloss affects the stations' 210 overall inventory, not just the inventorythey have given to ad networks 206, and constitutes one major source oflost value.

By analogy, imagine that a restaurant only received parties of ten totwenty people. Additionally, each party was specific about which partsof the restaurant they were willing to sit in. After a few large partiesare seated, the remaining seats will be a patchwork that may not fit anyadditional parties.

The situation may be worsened for the ad network 206, which representshundreds to thousands of stations 210. The ad network 206 may attempt tosolve an analogous fragmentation puzzle involving the inventory slicesfrom each of its affiliated stations 210. The ad network 206's inventorythus is often 20% to 30% unsold simply because the inventory has beenfragmented into an incoherent jumble. When inventory goes unsold, thebroadcast media is filled with lower performing filler such asnon-profit and/or government messages such as public serviceannouncements that do not contribute substantively towards the station210, station group 208, and/or network 206.

Currently, ad distribution and delivery in the broadcast industry is“pen and paper” or manually performed, due at least in part to anentrenched history of how it has been done, and due to the heterogeneityof broadcast stations throughout a country. The technologies, process,culture, and business concerns of stations may vary dramatically,necessitating a lowest-common-denominator approach where hundreds ofpeople at the ad network 206 directly interact, via phone or email, withseveral people at each of the hundreds or thousands of stations 210 thatare in the network.

Typically, there is also little to no feedback loop on how well thingswere actually delivered. As a practical measure, agencies 206 andstations 208, 210 have a “don't ask, don't tell” policy when it comes todelivery problems, despite there being perhaps 20% to 30% under-deliverydue to various problems. Examples of delivery problems are the wrong adplayed, played at wrong time, or played next to a competitor's ad, orthe ad was not played, played too poorly, or played when thebroadcasting tower was broken, and so on.

With the complexity of matchmaking exceeding the practical limits of amanual pen-and-paper method, networks 206 typically cope by requiringthat advertisers 202 buy a homogenized slice and/or bundle, called a“network minute”, across all the stations 210 in their network 206. Inthis way, the inventory does not get broken up and things do not getcomplicated. While this does reduce complexity, it adds inefficiency.The advertiser 202 gets little say in who they target (for example,which stations 210) or when they play (for example, which daypart).Thus, using network minute delivery is completely unoptimized to whatthe advertiser 202 truly would want. As a result, the delivery iscorrespondingly less valuable to advertiser 202. This in turn lowersadvertiser 202 demand, which may lead to waste inventory the network 206again may not fully sell their inventory. Note that this potential lossdue to unsold inventory is a loss in addition to poor matchup due tonetwork-minute selling. That is, because there is no attempt to matchthe inventory to the detailed desires of the advertiser 202, the totalvalue delivered by the inventory is substantially less than what itcould be.

Typically, there are further complications. For example, ads that areplaced in the same break may be compatible with each other. For example,two soft drink products from competing brands may not be in the samebreak. Some advertisers 202 do not want to share a break with what theyconsider to be a controversial product. Finally, some advertisers 202 donot want to be placed in what they consider to be controversial stationsor controversial programs/hosts.

Typically, ad campaigns that last less than a week are rare. Usuallythey last for several weeks and end up competing for space used by othercampaigns, which themselves may extend into a different set of weeks,stations, and dayparts.

Over the course of many months leading up to a particular week, thenetwork 206 progressively learns about each campaign that would like toinclude that week in their plans. For each potential campaign, they mayfirst form a proposed campaign plan to present to the advertiser 202.Typically, it may be many weeks before the advertiser 202 commits to theplan. Advertisers 202 often wait to commit until just a week or twobefore the go-live time, when the week in question starts.

A common issue is answering what the network 206 does with the inventoryspots they assigned to the proposed campaign plan before the advertiser202 commits. If the station 210 reserves that inventory for theadvertiser 202, then they may not assign it to other campaigns.Acceptance rates are often as low as 30%, and that means opportunitiesmay be missed. If the network 206 does not reserve a proposed plan'sinventory, then other campaigns can be accommodated more flexibly.However, conflicts may occur if two plans eventually try to reserve/booksome of the same inventory spots. In fact, if the network 206 does notreserve the inventory, then it is almost guaranteed that by the time theadvertiser 202 commits, the network 206 will have to present a slightlyrevised plan to the advertiser 202 since some of the original plan willbe “damaged” by other plans from other advertisers and must be “healed”.

Healing is a process of repairing damaged plans by selecting alternativebut equivalent placements. Automatic healing may be an important featureto support a frictionless workflow process for a fluctuating inventorypool. Possible use cases include using healing to mitigate inventorychanges and/or mitigate lost competition with another plan. Anchoredre-planning is a process of creating new plan revisions. Possible usecases include responding to change requests from a buyer, mitigatinginventory changes, and/or mitigate lost competition with another plan.Anchored re-planning has at least three modes: a rigid mode allowingonly decrements; a rigid mode within a spot's original station, week,and daypart—to allow an incremental spot count; and a “prefer” mode thatprefers the original station, week, and daypart—to allow incrementalstations.

Traditional Methods.

The need to allocate ad plays into a 210 station's inventory spots hasbeen around almost as long as radio has. As mentioned earlier, eventoday this is almost always done “by hand”/manually, with a highlyexperienced person determining with pen-and-paper/simple spreadsheetswhere they can place allocations for a new campaign. A problem is thateach campaign has specific and differing placement and sizingrequirements from the next campaign. The result is that the campaignsform a patchwork on the 210 stations' inventory that breaks up theinventory into unusable remnants. As mentioned before, in some casesthis can lead to 20% to 30% of a 210 station's inventory going unfilledby paying advertisers 202 each week.

Broadcast Vs Online Media.

Generic scheduling/allocation systems or ad-delivery processes used inmediums other than broadcast are not the same as the broadcastinventory-fill problem. There are several unique characteristics of thebroadcast ad distribution problem. In online media (for examplebrowser/websites and/or phone apps), ads are directed at individualpeople with known demographics. By contrast in broadcast, an ad reachesthousands of people simultaneously (usually publically), creating ademographic pattern of impressions. In online media, the upcoming amountof impressions is not guaranteed because one may not be certain of howmany people of each demographic will visit a website or smart-phone app.By contrast in broadcast, the number of impressions is effectivelyguaranteed because the industry has settled on official estimates oflistenership based off of sampling polls.

Sidecar Appliance.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating a traditional broadcast system.The system of FIG. 4A may be at a station 210. In the example shown, 402is a programming server. Throughout this specification, “programming”refers to core content of the broadcast station, usually content that ismore valuable for broadcast consumers, for example listeners or viewersof the broadcast. Throughout this specification, “server” refers withoutloss of generality to either an internal or external system/platform andmay be implemented in software and/or hardware. Thus, a utility server408 and station play out system 404 may be housed within a singlecomputer as shown in FIG. 1.

A programming server typically has access to pre-recorded or liveprogramming content to be interleaved with traffic and/or ad content.Programming server 402 is coupled with a utility server 408 via programlogs, which are generally human-readable files, for example text files,that indicate log book and/or timing details for “carts”, which arecartridges and/or unique identifiers for specific creative pieces,including programming, commercials, weather, news, top-of-the-hourannouncements, and other programming. For example cart COM-2537 may be a30-second advertisement for a national home-improvement store with a 10%promotion. Program logs contain information on carts like PRO-1024 whichmay be a Top 40 popular song that happens to take three minutes andfifty-one seconds. The program logs may also store information for discjockeys (DJs) such as artist, title, track, rotation, and triviainformation about the cart.

Similarly, traffic server 406 provides traffic content. Throughout thisspecification “traffic” content refers to content other thanprogramming, for example traffic reports, weather reports, local news,FCC mandated spots, such as top-of-the-hour, and local/network/nationalad spots. Traffic server 406 is coupled to utility server 408 viatraffic logs. Traffic logs contain information on carts like the exampleof COM-2537 above, or WEA-1100 which may have the eleven o'clock weatherreport for forty-five seconds.

Utility server 408 provides a merge and/or continuity function to formfinal logs that are the program logs from programming server 402 andtraffic logs from traffic server 406 merged for final play out. Thefinal logs are submitted to station play out system 404, also known as aprimary play out system, or an automation system. Without loss ofgenerality, the automation system may include both utility server 408and play out system 404. The play out system has an audio codec and thecapability to directly push content to broadcast.

Typically logs, based on schedulers' log books, are generated a dayprior to a broadcast airing and have a predetermined schedule oftriggering traffic via the play out systems 404 and 408. This is anissue in that logs are static by being generated so early, and thataudio copy may not be changed in real time.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating an example of asidecar-appliance broadcast system. The system of FIG. 4B may be at astation 210 affiliated with ad network 206. The sidecar appliancepermits ad network 206 to trigger and play spots at station 210 in realtime. In the example shown, similar to FIG. 4A, programming server 402is coupled with station play out system 404 via utility server 408 whichis coupled with mixer 410. One traffic server 452 providing, forexample, commercial breaks, traffic, and weather reports, is alsocoupled with station play out system 404 via utility server 408 toprovide some but not all of the traffic content for broadcast, and itleaves room for another traffic server using “break” logs. Anothertraffic server, also known as an ad server 454, is coupled with anothersecond play out system 456. In one embodiment, the ad server 454 is acloud based platform, wherein cloud refers to cloud computing. Cloudcomputing refers without loss of generality to the practice of using oneor more remote servers hosted on a computer network, for example theInternet, rather than only using local servers and/or local personalcomputers. Although traffic server 454 is depicted as an ad server,without loss of generality the same in-band trigger techniques may beused for non-advertising content. Because sidecar play out system 456has its own audio codec, and ad server 454 may be cloud computing basedincluding associated with the internet, it provides a way for mediacreative to be loaded and scheduled in real time to be merged with theday-old programming logs of a traditional broadcast.

Furthermore, because sidecar play out system 456 can listen to in-bandprogram audio, it can provide real time compliance data to a cloudplatform, for example ad server 454. This allows an advertiser 202 or adagency 204, to verify a creative spot was played in full, what time itwas played, when it was played in the logs (for example what program wasplayed prior to the creative spot being played), and the frequency itwas played. Sidecar play out system 456 does not need to have anauxiliary network for triggering but may rather directly monitor theoutput of mixer 410, in-band. When sidecar play out system 456 detectsand decodes an in-band trigger, it directly plays content based oninstructions and audio copy from ad scheduling server 454 to mixer 410and out to broadcast.

Improving on the Manual Process with the Sidecar Appliance.

Thus in one embodiment, a real-time media-delivery sidecar appliance 456is installed in over a hundred broadcast stations 210. Each broadcaststation 210 may then be affiliated with one or more ad networks 206.This allows delivery of a selected ad to the right spot directly intothe radio/television broadcast station's broadcast stream at nearly anydesired time. Thus, serving ads from the appliance computer permits anear immediate reactiveness to desired additions, changes, and removalsin ad campaigns. This level of proactiveness/reactiveness is not at allpractical in the “by hand”/manual approach.

That is, even if a network had an army of people transferring existingplacements to attempt to fully fill their network, the complexity mayboggle the army of people. The constant stream of ad-placement changeswould have to be communicated to independent people at hundreds orthousands of radio stations; and not only would these people reject theidea of constantly making adjusts, they would not be able to do soreliably. This hypothetical situation is further exacerbated by the factthat a week's inventory is at its worst gridlock just before the week'sgo-live time.

Thus, the sidecar appliance 456 allows a fresh solution for theinventory-fill problem at a detailed level that only an automatedsystem/computer can handle, rather than with the traditionalbroad-stroked methods that a person or persons can realistically applymanually. By computerizing the process, a new tool is forged todynamically place campaigns' ads in a systemic way that concurrentlyexplores all options and select the best one. The advertising placementsystem is thus a new problem space for broadcast inventory.

Context in Radio Embodiment.

To reiterate, ad networks (206) stand between a large group of radiostations (210) and national advertisers (202). Stations (210) contractout to the ad network (206) some of the space/spots they have availableto place ads in, their “inventory”. Advertisers (202) and/or their adagencies (204) approach the ad network (206) asking for their products'ads to play many times across the ad network's stations (210), a“campaign”. Planning that campaign requires considering the needs anddesires of all three parties: stations (210), ad network (206), andadvertiser (202). The planning software must optimize those needs anddesires, and where necessary, compromise between them in a balanced way:

-   -   The station (210) and ad network (206) want to fully fill the        inventory;    -   The ad network (206) and advertisers (202) want optimized return        on investment (“ROI”) from their campaigns; and    -   Inventory and campaign delivery/success are measured in terms of        impressions.

Impressions are the estimated number of people hearing the ad, given aparticular demographic, such as “Men 25-49” or m25-49, “Women 18-24” orw18-24, both of which are subsets of the global demographic “Persons 12and up”, or p12+. One major third-party company providing thesemeasurements is Arbitron, which is currently a part of Nielsen. Stations(210) are typically paid based on the estimated number of listeners in ageneric demographic, such as “Persons 18-49” or p18-49. Advertisers(202) typically pay only for the impressions within the demographic theyare interested in.

Thus, one of the major functions of an ad network (206) is to place anadvertiser's campaign into the stations (210) at parts of the week thatare best matched for the campaign's demographic. In other words, thenetwork should optimize what is termed “demo-match” or “demo-matchup”.

More sophisticated traditional ad networks may split their ad network(206) into many sub-networks. For example, they may split their networkinto stations (210) with mostly-male and mostly-female listenership.Some portion of their total inventory is then sold in this more detailedway. This is still not optimal however, because even amongst themostly-female stations, only a minority of those stations may have gooddemo-match with “Female 18-25”. Moreover, pre-splitting inventory intosub-networks comes with the risk that the corresponding sub-networkswon't be sold at the same rate, leaving wasted inventory behind.

Embodiment of Dynamic Lineups.

Dynamic lineups are disclosed. In one embodiment, when planning acampaign, each inventory's impressions are measured according to thedemographic and daypart of the campaign. This measure is termed the“in-demo impressions”, or simply “demo impressions”.

In one embodiment, a metric called ‘price efficiency’ is used todetermine ad placement, wherein price efficiency is a ratio of totalin-demo impressions per total cost. Maximizing price efficiency alone,however, may yield placement anomalies, for example undercharging earlyplacements, overcharging late placements, evening/weekend daypartemphasis, and imbalance.

In one embodiment, the demo impressions are then compared against theoverall-demographic impressions, or just “overall impressions”, tocalculate the demographic matchup, the “demo-match”. The plan is thenformed, one ad placement at a time, starting with the inventories thathave the highest demo-match. One ad is added at a time because, as theplan is formed, many other criteria are being measured, some examples ofwhich are listed below. A “Judge” is a term for a system which makes thedetermination in a price efficiency based placement system and/or ademo-match based placement system.

Balancers, distributors, and biasers are used to redistribute priceefficiency based placement and/or demo-match based placement. Theseadditional techniques/metrics are combined with the demo-match metric toform an overall fitness metric. The placement with the highest compositefitness is picked.

Some examples of these redistributors include:

-   -   market & station distribution—generally, advertisers want their        campaign to play in as many markets as possible. For example, as        one market becomes more saturated, an additional bias is to keep        other markets equally saturated;    -   inventory rationing—encourages planning to pick stations/markets        which have more unused inventory left instead of ones that have        little inventory left;    -   index-impact adjustments—when a plan selects less popular        inventory, it improves the overall quality (sometimes termed        “index” in radio) of the remaining inventory. The reverse is        true as well. This metric accounts for the impact that a        placement will have on the index. It can be used to both shape        how the plan ends up and/or to adjust the final price of the        plan to the agency;    -   daypart distributor—using a “remnant prorated” method of        calculating remnant inventory for a plurality of relevant        regions for a campaign, and prorating what is being put into        each of the regions, based on the total remnant inventory each        region has; and    -   daypart percentage annealing—when a planner selects percentages        they prefer in each given region, the sequential process of        selecting placements in each region will not result in the        selected percentages after each selection, requiring an        “annealing” process to grant a dynamic tolerance to avoid the        selector from “seizing” at not being able to optimize to the        selected percentages; and/or    -   top station biaser—a planner may know in advance that certain        stations are of interest to an advertiser regardless of data or        quantitative analysis, for example a top station. A biaser may        bias a campaign to allow the top station to be placed more        often.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of remnant proration for a daypartdistributor. Three regions are depicted, Region 1 (502), Region 2 (504),and Region (506), shown with a respective total inventory (512), (514),(516), and then a respective remnant inventory (522), (524), (526).

The term ‘region’ generally refers to a combination of space and time,for example a collection of selected market(s) and/or station(s) 210 andselected week(s) and/or daypart(s) 302. Price may stay the same within aregion or between regions, such that without a daypart distributor aJudge may select only one region for placement, say Region 1 (502).

With remnant proration, the percentage of overall remnant available; forexample in FIG. 5 10% in Region 1 (522), 80% in Region 2 (524), and 30%in Region 3 (516), is used to prorate what is put into each region,price being equal. Thus with a daypart distributor the Judge wouldselect roughly 10/120 placement in Region 1, 80/120 placement in Region2, and 30/120 in Region 3. An advantage of a daypart distributor is thatit minimizes network fragmentation.

A key issue addressed by the disclosed is that each criteria seemsqualitatively different from the rest, meaning there is no apparentlynatural way to combine them. In one embodiment, transforming andnormalizing each metric into financial terms permits combining them in acontinuously balanced way into a single fitness metric. This is key toavoiding complex, and often arbitrary, decision logic where “gray zones”are not properly balanced. A common issue with traditional methods,which are often non-mathematically balanced systems, is that they mayseem good locally but when combined together they clash and areineffective.

One example of how the demo-match metric alone might be used to pick onestation over another: Consider a campaign that wants the w18-24 demoduring the Monday-Friday 5a-8p daypart. Station X gets 1000 impressionsper play in that demo and daypart, while getting 2000 impressions in theoverall demo, p12+, in the same daypart. Thus, the demo-match is1000/2000, or 50%. Station Y, on the other hand, gets 600 demoimpressions per play and 900 overall impressions. Thus, Station Y'sdemo-match is 600/900, or 67%. The result is the demo-match algorithmweighs towards picking Station Y instead of Station X, and thus placingthe campaign in Station Y is a 34% more efficient use of the inventory.

This level of detailed calculation may be leveraged with automatedcomputer, and/or the complexity and customization that results can bereliably and inexpensively delivered via a direct-to-air appliance andcloud computing infrastructure. Traditional networks typically justallocate a fixed slice of their network's inventory to the campaignregardless of the demo match in each station and daypart.

Dynamic Lineups.

A “lineup” is an industry term referring to plays of a campaign thatwill happen in a given station in a given week. As described above,traditionally a lineup is governed at least in part by a manual andstatic placement of ads in inventory.

By contrast, lineups and placement as disclosed are “dynamic” in atleast two different ways: 1) an initial placement of a campaign isdynamic using the overall fitness metric as described above; and 2) thecampaign may be reoptimized/adapted dynamically after initial placementover the lifetime of the campaign with changes in region/demographicplacement to react to changes of supply and changes of demand, forexample inventory changes, campaign changes, and other new campaigns.Inventory changes may occur for example when a station has equipmentfailure. The campaign may change, for example, from feedback from acampaign, in some cases programmatically, to increase an ROI foradvertiser 202. In one embodiments, a campaign runs during a week alonga campaign period of six months to twelve months.

With adaptive planning, a planning algorithm may assume reservedinventory as guaranteed, but remain flexible within its ordered buyspecifications. Adaptive/dynamic planning thus allows optimization ofyield by reallocating existing placements to achieve higher fill rate ormore efficient use of inventory. For example, an AM drive might yieldmore impressions for a later plan called Plan B: Plan A for Mo—Fr 6a-tpreserved 30 spots evenly spread out (2 per day and AM/Mid/PM), whereasPlan B for Mo-We 6a-10a may force a reallocation of some spots of Plan Afrom AM into PM.

Benefits. In one embodiment, customized “demo match” greatly expands theeffective inventory available to an ad network. Stations are picked withthe highest demo match for the campaign, leaving the lower demo-matchstations and dayparts aside to be used by other campaigns whose desireddemographic matches them. In some cases, the standard pricing in theindustry allows perhaps a 10% margin for the network despite theinefficiency of their current practices. In one embodiment, computerizeddemo matching and campaign scaling allows the network to scheduleperhaps 50% more advertising into a week. Since the cost to the networkis relatively fixed, the network's margin would increase by 6 times inthis hypothetical example.

Demo matching also benefits the business because advertisers prefer whentheir ads play on stations that naturally attract their targeteddemographic.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a flow chart for a dynamic advertisingplacement. In step 602, inventory data is stored, wherein the inventorydata represents for each of a plurality of broadcast stations 210 acorresponding inventory of audio advertising spots available from thatbroadcast station 210 to be filled by an advertising placement system.In one embodiment the advertising placement system is run at aprogrammatic ad network 206 as shown in FIG. 2.

In step 604, an advertising campaign data is received from advertiser202 and/or ad agency 204, wherein the advertising campaign datarepresents a set of advertising objectives of an advertising campaign.

In step 606, the inventory data is used to iteratively selectadvertising spots to be associated with the advertising campaign, basedat least in part on a respective computed fitness of match between eachselected advertising spot and said advertising objectives. In oneembodiment the computed fitness of match comprises a primary metriccomprising at least one of a demo-match metric and a price efficiencymetric. In one embodiment, the computed fitness of match comprises theprimary metric and a secondary metrics. In one embodiment, a secondarymetric is transformed to a normalized value, for example a valuenormalized into financial terms such as price, cost, ROI, and so on. Inone embodiment, a normalization strategy includes normalizing them allinto financial terms so they can be combined together in a meaningfulway to get the overall fitness. In one embodiment, the price efficiencymetric is evaluated by efficiency in demo impressions for a given amountof money. In one embodiment, being evaluated by efficiency alsocomprises a bias to achieve a daypart distribution, for example the biasis remnant prorated. In one embodiment, being evaluated by efficiencyalso comprises an overall fitness including price efficiency and regiondistribution fitness.

In an additional step (not shown in FIG. 6) advertising spots aredynamically re-selected to be associated with the advertising campaignbased at least in part on one or more of the following: a change ininventory and/or a subsequently processed campaign; recomputing therespective computed fitness of match, including at least one of:recomputing aggregated fitness and recomputing overall fitness; and toattain a same or equivalent fitness of match.

In an additional step (not shown in FIG. 6) the advertising campaign isglobally optimized with a second advertising campaign. Such a globallyoptimization comprises at least one of: optimizing at least one of asupply side and a demand side across both advertising campaigns;achieving objectives of both advertising campaigns collectively with amaximum fill of ad spots; and/or achieving objectives of bothadvertising campaigns collectively with a maximum ROI to the pluralityof broadcast stations.

As described above, the technique in FIG. 6 may be carried out by acomputer as shown in FIG. 1 coupled by a network connection to aplurality of sidecar appliances 456 in each of the plurality ofbroadcast stations 210.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of a flow chart for selection of advertisingspots. In one embodiment, the process of FIG. 7 is part of step 606 inFIG. 6.

In steps 702 and 704, a region distribution for a campaign is receivedalong with its corresponding price data. In step 706, a primary metricis determined for the campaign using a judge. A judge measures at leastone fitness component. In one embodiment, a programmatic analysis of thecampaign and/or user preferences determines whether the primary metricis price efficiency or demo-match. Price data may include CPM (cost perthousand impressions), payout AQH (average quarter-hour persons), and/orspot price. In steps 702 and 704, other determinants in inventory mayalso be input, including break length, break counts and:

Base Input:

-   -   a. inventory pool selection    -   b. advertiser

Exclusions Input:

-   -   a. market    -   b. format    -   c. station    -   d. other tags (e.g. controversial)

Ratings

-   -   a. data set (e.g. Nielsen book)    -   b. demographic

Multi Config

-   -   a. flight weeks    -   b. dayparts    -   c. spot length    -   d. reach goal (Impressions or GRPS)    -   e. rate limit (CPM or CPP)    -   f. budget limit    -   g. target weighting for markets, formats, stations, station        ranks,    -   h. demographics, household (income, size, education, children),        flight weeks

In step 708, balancers, distributors, and/or biasers are selected if anyto affect failings or other challenges in using the primary metric alonefor a campaign. In one embodiment, one or more judges are used, eachmeasuring a fitness component. In one embodiment, balancers are elementsthat try to even out or balance different aspects of placement;distributors are elements that allow proration or redistributeplacement; and biasers are elements that intentionally skew placementfor quantitative or qualitative rationale. In one embodiment thebalancers, distributors, and/or biasers are selected programmaticallybased on the campaign and/or user preferences.

In step 710, the primary metric and any balancers, distributors and/orbiases are combined to compute a fitness of match. Combination may be aweighted function, for example a weighted sum of the normalized factors.Normalization to financial terms may be performed to provide acontinuously balanced way to a single fitness metric. In one embodiment,there are multiple judges whose fitness calculations are combined togive the overall fitness in a selection phase. Once the overall fitnessfor each open spot is calculated, the best one is selected and then theoverall fitnesses are recalculated again, for example for the newmatches given of occupied spots.

In step 712, a selection phase is used to select the next inventory spotusing the combined fitness of match metric.

In one embodiment, plan pricing includes the “natural price” of a planas the sum of prices of its placements. The “proposal price” of a planis the natural price adjusted by index factors that represent poolfragmentation:

${{Price}({plan})} = {\left\lbrack {\sum\limits_{placement}{{Price}({placement})}} \right\rbrack \times {\prod\limits_{index}{{factor}_{index}\frac{{index}({plan})}{{index}({pool})}}}}$

Index factors may be freely defined and may represent resources thatpositively impact pricing of the inventory pool, for example Top-10markets, Top-5 stations. In one embodiment, there are different pricingoptions. The first is “cost based pricing” to support elastic pricing toachieve target margins based on a variable inventory cost structure. Theprice for an individual placement may be a function of the inventorycost multiplied with the configured target margin:Price(placement)=[1+margin(tier,week,daypart)]×Cost(placement)

Thus, more expensive inventory in a pool may automatically increase planprices and vice versa; changes to the effective pricing may beautomatic.

A second may be “normalized impression-based pricing” to supportcontrolled pricing for a buyer decoupled from cost structure. The priceof an individual placement may be a function of its normalizedimpression multiplied with a configured eCPM (effective CPM):

${{Price}({placement})} = {{{eCPM}\left( {{tier},{week},{daypart}} \right)} \times \frac{{Imps}_{normalized}({placement})}{1000}}$

Target margins may be managed externally. Thus buyers may experiencestable pricing, and changes to the effective pricing may become a yieldmanagement function.

For both pricing options, yield management has fine control over pricingthrough for example a three-dimensional matrix:

-   -   a. Cost-based option: Target margin per (tier×week×daypart)    -   b. Normalized impression-based option: eCPM per        (tier×week×daypart)

Summary Matching campaigns to stations is one of the primary jobs, ifnot the primary job, of an ad network.

However, because of the manual nature of traditional matching, theprevailing standard among ad networks is to simply sell “networkminutes”, meaning that an advertiser is only allowed to buy an evenslice and/or bundle across the entire network, with no station ordaypart customization done to match the desired demographic or othergoals of the advertiser.

Despite its drawbacks, the network-minute model prevails simply becauseit requires substantially more effort to process in a more sophisticatedway. Much more sophistication, and the process is beyond what a humanbeing, and especially a huge distributed network of human beings, canreliably calculate or execute manually.

Thus, the algorithms disclosed are developed to support processes neededto produce completely detailed customization of campaign plans across afull ad network of hundreds to thousands of stations. Moreover, theprocesses developed herein are not simply a scaling up of the moreholistic, intuitive reasoning that a human being might apply to theproblem; instead, the processes disclosed are logically sound andtailored to the procedural and concurrent nature of computers.

Ad Exchange on Ad Server.

There traditionally is no ad exchange, wherein an “ad exchange” isdefined throughout this specification as a space comprising demand andsupply participants, traditionally available that is integrated andrunning on top of a real time ad server platform for linear broadcast,including linear broadcast radio or linear broadcast television. Alinear broadcast ad server and/or enabling inventory to be dynamicallysupplied to exchange buyers to purchase is disclosed. The term“dynamically supplying” refers to supplying last minute and/or non-lastminute inventory, freely changing the amount of inventory, freelychanging the break lengths, and so on. In one embodiment, evenpre-purchase and/or non-guaranteed inventory is supplied if it becomesavailable. In one embodiment the creative to run on broadcast may besupplied seconds and/or minutes after an order. In one embodiment highcompliance is accounted for. In one embodiment, real time reporting, andreal time invoicing are made available.

Inventory is allowed to be submitted to an ad exchange via a variety ofmethods that permit automation, including without limitation:application programming interfaces (“APIs”), applications, and directinterfaces. Buyers are allowed to purchase available inventory via avariety of methods that permit automation, including without limitation:APIs and direct buying interfaces. Proposals are createdprogrammatically to buyers using buyer and seller rules and criteria.Once an order is placed, the campaign may run on all stations (via anappliance ad server) according to the specifications, creative,instructions, and so on.

When spots play out of the appliance ad server, the appliance reportsthe playtime and automatically confirms the spot play in lieu oftraditional manual station affidavits or proof-of-performance reports.Campaign performance is provided to agencies and advertisers in realtime, which also improves the efficiency of billing. Importantly, aprogrammatic exchange running on top of a cloud based, real time, adserver, enables efficiencies that are not possible manually using thetraditional methods of using many people, disparate systems, and/orantiquated manual processes. With data, processing algorithms, and theability to analyze, optimize, and re-plan every proposal/plan as newproposals/plans come in, value is added to all exchangeparticipants—providing fair pricing to suppliers and buyers alike.Another strength over traditional exchanges is the disclosed exchangemay work for many or a majority of all media groups.

In one embodiment, the ad exchange on ad server gets remunerated basedat least in part on delivery of spots and SaaS/PaaS (Software as aService/Platform as a Service) types of fees based on access to theexchange. Such a system is significant because of: a) the real timenature of the exchange; b) the benefits to both buyers and sellers; c)the assurance of buyer specifications, compliance, and control of copy;and d) the fact that traditionally is no industry wide ad exchangeavailable for linear broadcast, or linear broadcast combined withstreaming/online.

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are block diagrams of advertising exchange systems.

In FIG. 8A, Buyer 802 represents an advertiser 202, ad agency 204,and/or an ad network 206/station group 208 assisting an advertiser inpurchasing adspace. The Buyer 802 submits campaign planning, proposalsand/or orders with a demand side platform 804. Throughout thisspecification a platform references any programmatic user interfacewithout limitation including a web site, web portal, mobile portal,mobile app, call center and/or computer program. In one embodiment thedemand side platform may be represented as two different platforms: afirst “self service” platform for an advertiser 202 and/or ad agency 204to directly interface with, a second for a publisher 206/208 tointerface buyers through. In both cases, the demand side platform 804interfaces with ad exchange 810 using a demand side interface,comprising programmatic interfaces such as an application programminginterface (API), web service, computer protocol, and other automated andsemi-automated interface standards.

Ad exchange 810 comprises algorithms 812, for example algorithms fordynamic lineup and/or placement. Algorithms 812 also may use advancetechniques such as data targeting 814 to use first party data such asNielsen data and/or third party data such as that provided by apublisher 820 to enhance targeting with more precise demographics, andso on. Algorithms 812 also may use events processing 816 to enhancedelivery by allowing events such as weather events, political events,sports events, and so on to affect delivery and creative selection. Thead exchange 810 may be one or more of: a public ad exchange and aprivate exchange.

A private exchange 810 is associated with an inventory pool 822 that maybe affiliated with a single owned and operated group of stations 210 andsold by the sales channel of that owned and operated group of stations.The ability to purchase on a private exchange usually requires aninvitation to the agency 204 or advertiser 202. A public exchange 810 isassociated with an inventory pool 822 that is comprised of inventory bya group of stations 210 owned by multiple owners. A public exchange mayalso require an invitation to agencies 204 and advertisers 202, but insome embodiments may also be completely public and allow any buyer touse a self service demand side platform 804 to purchase inventory fromthe public exchange 810.

Publisher 832 interfaces with ad exchange 810 using an inventory managerplatform 834 to feed inventory 822 in the ad exchange 810. Publisher 832also provides input in the form of rates 836, whether the rates arebased on yield management, a rate card, or an instruction or algorithmto base rates on demand. In one embodiment, the ad exchange 810 takes aninstruction/algorithm to base rates on demand and manifests it usingalgorithms 812 to provide a dynamic and/or responsive rate. Thepublisher 832 using the inventory manager platform and inputs rates to abridge 818 on the ad exchange 810 using a supply side interface,comprising programmatic interfaces such as an API, web service, computerprotocol, and other automated and semi-automated interface standards.

A station 840 affiliated with publisher 832 comprises preexistingsystems, shown in FIG. 8 as grey blocks: traffic system 842 whichproduces logs for automation system 844, and billing 848 which invoicesto an advertiser invoice site 852 for campaigns associated with adexchange 810. The traffic system 842 interfaces with bridge 818 forgeneric inventory and orders: in one embodiment, the traffic system isgiven the number of breaks, the length of breaks (e.g. 30 s or 60 s),and an identifier to associate the order with a programmatic ad network206 that is associated with ad exchange 810.

Automation system 844 then signals breaks to sidecar appliance 846,which is coupled with the ad exchange and submits audio spots directlyfor listening. Exchange 810 using the information from sidecar appliance846 is coupled with an advertiser dashboard 862 for reporting,accounting, and QA to advertiser/buyer 802, and likewise coupled with apublisher dashboard 872 for reporting, accounting, and QA to publisher832.

FIG. 8B is similar to FIG. 8A but with a set of exchanges 880 that showsfor a buyer 802 and/or purchaser 832 the same single demand sideinterface and/or single supply side interface may be used with the setof exchanges 880, such that internally to the set of exchanges eachexchange, shown in FIG. 8B as exchange A 810 a, exchange B 810 b, and soforth, interchange information appropriately. Thus, the set of exchanges880 can manage information to permit a single buy from buyer 802 to beintegrated over a plurality of exchanges (810 a, 810 b, and so on), andlikewise on the supply side.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of a flow chart for an advertising exchangesystem. In one embodiment, the flow chart of FIG. 9 is executed in adexchange 810 in FIG. 8.

In step 902, inventory data is stored representing for each of aplurality of broadcast stations a corresponding inventory of audioadvertising spots available from that broadcast station to be filled byan advertising placement system. In one embodiment, inventory datarepresenting for each of a plurality of streaming stations acorresponding inventory of audio advertising spots available from thatstreaming station to be filled by the advertising exchange system.

In step 904, one or more sets of advertising campaign data, eachrepresenting a set of advertising objectives of an advertising campaignis received via a demand side interface. In one embodiment, the demandside interface is coupled to a plurality of broadcast advertisers.

In step 906 the inventory data is received via a supply side interface.In one embodiment, the supply side interface is coupled to a pluralityof broadcast stations. In one embodiment, the supply side interface iscoupled to a single private set of broadcast stations representing aprivate inventory data pool. In one embodiment, the supply sideinterface is coupled to a plurality of sets of broadcast stationsrepresenting a public inventory data pool. In one embodiment, the supplyside interface is coupled to a single private set of broadcast stationsrepresenting a private inventory pool. In one embodiment, the supplyside interface also has an ability for a broadcast station to reviewupcoming advertising campaigns to perform at least one of: separation,blacklisting, and charging differential pricing.

In step 908, the inventory data is used to determine for eachadvertising campaign a corresponding set of advertising spots to beassociated with that advertising campaign. In one embodiment, thedetermination is made “last minute” within two weeks before a play datefor the corresponding set of advertising spots. In one embodiment, thedetermination is made by programmatically optimizing globally across twoor more of said advertising campaigns. In one embodiment, thedetermination is programmatically based at least in part on a respectivefitness metric computed for each advertising campaign.

In one embodiment, the determination is programmatically based at leastin part on a respective fitness metric computed for each advertisingcampaign, wherein the computed fitness is demo-match. In one embodiment,the determination is programmatically based at least in part on arespective fitness metric computed for each advertising campaign,wherein the computed fitness is demo-match plus an additional metric. Inone embodiment, the determination is dynamic by making a rollingadjustment to optimize globally as another advertising campaigns isadded. In one embodiment, the determination is dynamic by making arolling adjustment to optimize globally as another advertising campaignsis added throughout a week. In one embodiment, the determination isbased at least in part on an overall optimization of an advertiser sideand a broadcast station side; the overall optimization may includechoosing an alternate plan for each advertising campaign an alternatecorresponding set of advertising spots to be associated with thatadvertising campaign in the event that a better return benefits one ormore broadcast stations given a same utility to an advertiser.

In a step not shown in FIG. 9, a plurality of sidecar appliances in eachof the plurality of broadcast stations are used, wherein the pluralityof sidecar appliances are coupled to ad exchange 810 by a networkconnection, wherein a sidecar appliance auto-generates instructions toimplement an advertising campaign.

Exchange Platform 810 in Detail.

In one embodiment, the Radio Exchange Platform 810 is an advertisingtechnology platform that enables the automated trading of broadcastaudio inventory. It may provide a robust set of features andcapabilities to operate independent inventory pools, each with a uniqueset of rules that govern the process of planning, forecasting andtransacting inventory. The configuration of each independent pool withits rules is called an Exchange. There are at least two kinds ofexchanges, Private versus Public.

Private Radio Exchange.

In one embodiment, a Private Radio Exchange is a configuration of theRadio Exchange Platform 810 that allows one inventory supplier 832 tocontrol the rules that govern all programmatic buying of the inventory822. Availability, pricing, and packaging may be fully controlled by thesupplier 832, often at multiple levels, e.g. global yield managementversus channel optimizations. This may include client-specificconfigurations and pre-negotiated pricing. Private Radio Exchangecapabilities may be licensed to suppliers 832, such as broadcasters 210and/or networks 208/206, who may then run their own private exchanges. Asupplier 832 is the principal owner of the inventory and defines thetrading rules on their own exchange 810.

Public Radio Exchange.

In one embodiment, a Public Radio Exchange 810 is a configuration of theRadio Exchange Platform 810 that facilitates trading of inventory 822between multiple suppliers 832 and multiple buyers 802. An approvedsupplier 832 may flexibly publish inventory 822 into the public exchange810 with an offer. An approved buyer 802 may acquire inventory 822 fromthe public exchange 810 with an order. A supplier 832 can set pricefloors and content restriction for individual offers but may or may notcontrol large granularity pricing and packaging. A buyer 802 may orderbased on targeting requirements and audience goals but may not havevisibility into or control over specific attributes; including but notlimited to the actual station 210 identity. In one embodiment, aprogrammatic ad network 206 does not necessarily take principalownership of the inventory traded and may instead charge a fee fromtransactions.

Buying Methods.

In one embodiment, the Radio Exchange Platform 810 provides at leastthree methods of buying; all of them programmatic in nature. They varyin core characteristics: ‘Tool-supported RFP/IO Process’ and‘Programmatic Guaranteed’ are methods to facilitate programmatic buyingof premium, guaranteed inventory. ‘Static Bidding, Non-Guaranteed’ is amethod to facilitate programmatic buying of remnant inventory.

Tool-Supported Programmatic Static Bidding, RFP/IO Process GuaranteedNon-Guaranteed Premium and/or X X guaranteed inventory Remnant and/or Xnon-guaranteed inventory

Buying Methods for the Private Radio Exchange.

In one embodiment, the Private Radio Exchange 810 provides two buyingmethods to support premium sales channels. Both may be guaranteed andtransparent in nature. The buyer 802 may review proposed orders,including the properties (stations) and weights (impressions or playcounts), before committing to the order.

Tool-Supported RFP/IO Process.

In one embodiment, the tool supported request for proposal/insertionorder (RFP/IO) process utilizes the efficiencies and optimizations ofthe programmatic platform but still allows human interaction andnegotiations on individual buys. To allow this interaction, the workflowmay follow a more traditional RFP submission process:

-   -   1. Buyer 802 sends RFP with audience goals and targeting        requirements to supplier 832.    -   2. Supplier's 832 personnel creates price proposals in response        to incoming RFPs.    -   3. The Radio Exchange Platform 810 facilitates the communication        of the proposal to the buyer 802, either through direct web        access from the buyer 802 or through automatically generated        sales-supporting documents delivered via traditional methods        like email.    -   4. Buyer's 802 personnel reviews proposal and either requests        changes or approves the proposal.        -   i. If buyer 802 request changes, supplier's 832 personnel            repeats step 2.        -   ii. If the buyer 802 approves the proposal, the ad exchange            810 generates an insertion order and reserves the inventory            822.

Programmatic Guaranteed.

In one embodiment, a Programmatic Guaranteed process supports anautomated, self-service buying process. The supplier 832 may configurecomprehensive pricing rules, rate cards/deals 834/836 to manage yield,protect sales channels, and manage client-specific pre-negotiated deals.Those rules may allow buyers 802 to query available inventory on areal-time and/or near-real-time basis 822 and make orders without adirect human involvement from the supplier 832. This is termedself-service buying. The actual order is booked either through aweb-based application or an API that can be integrated by 3rd-partybuying applications, for example demand side platforms 804.

Buying Methods for the Public Radio Exchange.

In one embodiment, the Public Radio Exchange 810 provides a unified wayof buying remnant inventory. The term “remnant” does not imply poorquality, but instead refers to a fragmented, inconsistent and variablysized pool of inventory from multiple independent suppliers (that may infact be premium/ideal for certain buyers 802), published to a unifiedmarketplace 810 for purchase.

In one embodiment, the Public Radio Exchange 810 provides a marketplacewhere transactions are executed by an auction mechanism. To participatein an auction a buyer 802 enters an order with a static bid. The orderwill be considered in upcoming auctions until the order is changed orcanceled.

The Public Radio Exchange 810 does not necessary need to offer a realtime bidding (RTB) mechanism. RTB requires the Exchange 810 to querydistinct bids from registered buyers 802 for every unit of auctionedinventory 822 at the time of the auction, for example near real time.This may be an inconvenience for buyers 802 of audio advertising.

Static Bidding, Non-Guaranteed.

In one embodiment, characteristics for a static bidding, non-guaranteedprocess on the Radio Exchange Platform 810 comprise:

-   -   1. Suppliers 832 create offers of inventory into the public        exchange. With each offer, the supplier 832 can specify content        restrictions, the level of accepted targeting and a minimum        price for the inventory unit;    -   2. Buyers 802 place orders to buy inventory from the public        exchange. Within that order the buyer can specify audience goals        and maximum unit price (the ‘bid’). In addition, the buyer 802        may specify targeting parameters including—but not limited        to—dayparts, markets and formats;    -   3. Offered inventory 822 becomes due for auction when the        earlier of the following events occur:        -   a. the offer has a “good until” time configured and is about            to expire; and        -   b. the inventory is scheduled to air within a minimum            time-to-air (As a guiding principle, the public exchange may            delay the auction to the latest possible time to maximize            the matching demand and consequently optimize yield for the            supplier 832 as well as available inventory 822 for the            demand side 802. In one embodiment, to practically process            the order, send instructions to the ad server 846 and            achieve highest compliance, the system reserves a technical            minimum time-to-air buffer);    -   4. When inventory 822 becomes due for auction, the public        exchange 810 completes the auction process by computing a        winning bid (or winning bids in the case of multiple        simultaneously auctioned units). The following steps describe        the auction process:        -   a. Determine the set of eligible orders. This step includes:            -   i. matching orders against content restriction of                offers,            -   ii. matching offers against audience goals and targeting                requirements of orders,            -   iii. filtering out orders with bids lower than the offer                minimum price, and            -   iv. applying global and order specific rotation and                repetition rules.        -   b. From the set of eligible orders, the platform computes a            winning bid or winning bids. The algorithm may have the            following properties:            -   i. bidders are incentivized to bid their true value (as                described for second-price sealed-bid auctions and                similar algorithms),            -   ii. seller's revenue is maximized, and            -   iii. auctions are fair and equal.

Non-Guaranteed Nature.

In one embodiment, orders are “non-guaranteed” to the buyer 802, that isthe Exchange 810 accepts orders but does not guarantee delivery.However, upon a successful auction (see above) the supplier 832 willguarantee the delivery to the matched buyer 802 and the buyer 802consents to buy matched inventory 822. The buyer 802 can change orrevoke his order at any time, which will be respected for futureauctions but will not affect any auction results from the past.

In one embodiment, offers are non-guaranteed by the supplier 832, thatis the supplier can at any time revoke offers that have not beenauctioned. Successfully auctioned offers are guaranteed as describedabove, and the Exchange does not necessarily provide any guarantees tothe supplier 832 that inventory 822 will find a buyer 802.

Classification and Targeting.

In one embodiment, an order may include targeting information that willbe matched against the inventory classification as published by thesupplier 832. The Radio Exchange Platform 810 may assure the accuracy ofclassifications, but it is the choice of the supplier 832 to define thelevel and granularity of the classification on each offer.

A supplier 832 may opt-in to classify the inventory according toDaypart, Market, Station Rank and Format. By allowing such a specificclassification the offer may achieve higher prices in the auction andmay be less impacted by temporary inflation of low-cost, lower qualityinventory. Without a proper classification the inventory may still besold, but the buyer will value it solely on the achieved impressions.

In one embodiment, a summary of the characteristics of buying methodssupported by the ad exchange 810 include:

Tool-Supported Programmatic Static Bidding, RFP/IO Process GuaranteedNon-Guaranteed Commitment guaranteed guaranteed non-guaranteedTransparency transparent transparent non-transparent (blind) Granularitypackage (e.g. package or individual units network) individual unitsWorkflow sales driven proposals automated standby demand and insertionorders insertion orders

Ad exchange 810 may support other buying methods, for example:

“Buy Now” Button:

An extension to static bidding, suppliers 832 set a price target (higherthan the minimum price) that would allow buyers 802 to circumvent theauction process and buy the inventory at that time. This includes adiscovery mechanism so buyers 802 can find specific inventory in theexchange;

“RTB”:

An alternative to static bidding, auctions will trigger a dynamic bidrequest to registered buyers who dynamically respond with a bidresponse. The deal architecture resembles RTB exchanges for digitaladvertising. A buyer 802 may use sophisticated optimization algorithmsand data that would change the true value of inventory for the buyer 802dynamically. In one embodiment, the buyer 802 may use ad exchange 810for the capability to adjust his bid on an auction-by-auction basis.Unlike in digital RTBs the ability to target individual profiles doesnot necessarily apply to broadcast but may apply for streaming/online.In one embodiment, a prospective buyer 802 might use technology that hasstandardized on OpenRTB. Another alternative to static bidding is aReverse Auction;

“Priceline” Model:

An alternative to static bidding and/or programmatic direct. In oneembodiment, an advantage of this blind model is its success sellingunsold high-quality inventory, as translated to an advertising marketwith institutional, repeat buyers 802.

Inventory Management Platform 834 in Detail.

In one embodiment, the ad exchange 810 allows participating broadcastpartners 210 to programmatically sell their inventory 822. Thisinventory 822 may be programmatically purchased by agencies 204 andadvertisers 202 through DSP 804. Broadcasters 832 may provisioninventory 822 to enable the marketplace 810. The Inventory Managementplatform 834, may be used to help broadcasters 832 provision inventory.

Structure.

In one embodiment, inventory management may have three types of users:Broadcast Group 208 Inventory Managers, Radio Group 206 Administrators,and Global Administrators from the programmatic ad network 206 withoutnecessarily principal ownership of inventory traded. A Radio Group maybe the sole supplier 832 of a private exchange 810 or represent aplurality of suppliers 832.

The Inventory Management Platform may provide a role-based and/orcredential-based hierarchy that includes the three users: InventoryManagers at broadcast groups with an Affiliate Inventory Manager role;Admin personnel at the Radio Group with a Network Inventory Managerrole; and internal admin personnel with a Global Inventory Manager roleat the programmatic ad network 206 without necessarily principalownership of inventory traded.

Broadcast Group Inventory Manager Interface.

For Broadcast Group Inventory Managers, a quick start guide maycomprise: launching an Inventory Management tool by navigating to anapplicable URL and logging in; clicking on any week to update inventoryby entering Avails and CPMs; clicking on Save to update Inventory; usingthe Extend button instead of Save to extend this inventory to multipleweeks; contacting a Radio Group Administrator to convert Spot Rates toCPMs; and contacting Radio Group Administrator to take back inventorythat is already booked by one or more plans.

Conventions.

A Radio Group may require use of standard day parts to ensure uniforminventory across the system. In one embodiment, twelve standard dayparts are used: AM Drive (6 am to 10 am) Mo—Fr; AM Drive Saturday; AMDrive Sunday; Mid Day (10 am to 3 pm) Mo—Fr; Mid Day Saturday; Mid DaySunday; PM Drive (3 pm to 7 pm) Mo—Fr; PM Drive Saturday; PM DriveSunday; Evening (7 pm to 12 am) Mo—Fr; Evening Saturday; and EveningSunday.

CPM Pricing.

In one embodiment, a Radio Group's tool(s) may require pricing inventoryby CPM. CPM based pricing may make it easier to manage inventory acrossmultiple stations and weeks. A Radio Group administrator may helptranslate Spot Prices in dollars to CPMs and assist with the initialinventory load.

In one embodiment, a calculation is RATE*1000/AQH, wherein: RATE is the60 second Spot price; and AQH is based on P18-49, MSu 6a-12m. In oneembodiment, the AQH is not related to the audience number of a planbeing presented to advertisers but is a separate consistent audiencenumber that is considered delivered for each spot run. This number isfor calculation purposes and acts as the base, the real variable in theequation determining the cost is the spot rate. An identical sample AQHmay theoretically be used as a placeholder for every station but using atrue audience number may help cost analysis elsewhere. P18-49, MSu6a-12m as a default is helpful as that is what Metrics uses for somecalculations.

Setup and Inventory Load.

In one embodiment, broadcast groups may follow this process to get theirorganization set up and configured to use Inventory Management 834. Itis assumed that the Broadcast group may have signed a Radio Groupcontract at this point.

Organization and User Setup.

In one embodiment, a Radio Group representative may work with theBroadcast group's contact to set up the organization and users withinthe Example Radio Group system. The following information may be neededto set up an organization within a Radio Group: Company Name; Address;and Point of contact name & email address.

A Radio Group representative may collect the list of Broadcast grouppersonnel email ID's who may be managing the group's inventory. TheExample Radio Group administrator may ensure that users are createdwithin the system. Each email ID in the list may receive an email froman administrative support team with the subject “You have been invitedto the ad exchange”. The recipients of email may then click on the“Click here” link in the email to select a password and continue theuser creation process and eventually receive confirmation of accountcreation.

Station Load and Template Association.

In one embodiment, the broadcast group's stations 210 may be loaded ontothe system before inventory may be provisioned. The station load isperformed by an Radio Group Administrator. Broadcast groups may providethe following information to ensure their stations are uploaded andassociated with their organization: FCC ID of the station; Station callletter in the format EXAMPLE RADIO GROUP-FM; DMA of the station;Station's Format; If the station is controversial (e.g. Yes or No); Ifthe station is unrated (e.g. Yes or No); and the Station's guideline forpricing 30 s as a percentage of 60 second spot.

The Example Radio Group Administrator may also create templates withstandard Example Radio Group day parts and associates them with all thestations for ease of use. The template assignment may be done behind thescenes and may be transparent to the broadcast group's InventoryManagers.

Initial Inventory Provisioning.

Templated Inventory Provisioning: In one embodiment, a Radio Groupprovides templates to enable more effortless inventory provisioning.Broadcast groups may provide typical avails for both 30 s and 60 s alongwith CPMs for the standard Radio Group dayparts. The Radio GroupAdministrator may ensure this inventory is added to the template for aduration of time.

For example, if a broadcast group 208 is comfortable in sharing 4 slotsin the weekday am and pm dayparts, 10 slots in their midday, evening andweekend dayparts, they may have a generic Spot Rate or CPMs for each ofthese dayparts as shown in the below table and may have this sample asinventory for the next quarter across all their stations. The RadioGroup Administrator may then create a template as shown below and applyit to all stations for the upcoming quarter.

Daypart Length Avails Mo-fr 6a-10a 60 4 Mo-fr 10a-3p 60 10 Mo-fr 3p-7p60 4 Mo-fr 7p-12a 60 10 Sa 6a-10a 60 10 . . . Su 7p-12a 60 10

Daypart CPM Mo-fr 6a-10a $8.00 Mo-fr 10a-3p $5.00 Mo-fr 3p-7p $7.00Mo-fr 7p-12a $3.00 Sa 6a-10a $4.00 . . . Su 7p-12a $4.00

Manual Inventory Provisioning.

In one embodiment, templated inventory provisioning may be suited forsituations where all stations within the broadcast group 208 havesimilar pattern of inventory or prices. However it may not be the casefor some broadcasters with diverse set of radio stations. Such broadcastgroups may use the Extend tool to provision inventory. A Radio GroupAdministrator may be available to help the broadcast groups during thisphase.

In one embodiment, an example user interface sequence is now given: thebroadcast group's Inventory Manager may navigate to the platform 834 andlog in to launch Inventory Management Tool. The stations may all displayzero as provisioned inventory. They may select the station and start ofthe provisioning period. Avails and CPM sections may be available on thescreen after the Inventory Manager clicks on a week. Avails may have thesame numbers set up in the template; since the Extend based provisioningis being described, assume that the template may have zeros for allavails and the Inventory Manager platform may enter the Avails. CPMs mayalso be inherited from the templates. Assuming they too were zero in thetemplates, the user enters CPMs.

In one embodiment, an Inventory Manager may click on the Extend buttonabove Avails section. The Inventory Manager may then enter the durationto provision inventory. For example, the Inventory Manager may elect toprovision inventory starting from the week of 2/29 and ending with theweek of 3/28. Clicking on the Save button may start the process ofprovisioning inventory. This process might take a few minutes tocomplete. Each week's cell may display the total number of Avails oncethe week's inventory provisioning is complete. Also note the totals mayonly reflected for the weeks with provisioned Inventory. The process maybe repeated for each station to complete the process of inventoryprovisioning.

Ongoing Inventory Management. Viewing Inventory.

In one embodiment, Inventory Managers may navigate to the InventoryManagement Portal URI and login to launch the Inventory Management tool.For example, Inventory Managers may view aggregate inventory. Forinstance, station EXMP-FM may have 74 spots for weeks 2/29, 3/07, 3/14,and 3/21, inventory is not provisioned for week 3/28 and beyond.Inventory is not provisioned for the two other stations that theinventory manager may have access to for any of the weeks listed.

In one embodiment, Inventory Managers may click on any station and weekcell to view inventory details. For example, the Inventory Manager mayclick on the week of 3/07 and may view inventory details on a UI panel.An Avails widget may show the details of inventory by dayparts. Forexample, Monday to Friday 10 am to 3 pm daypart (mo-fr 10a-3p) may havea total of five spots provisioned. Of the five spots, four may be bookedand one is available. Inventory Managers may provision both 60 s and 30s spots.

In one embodiment, a CPM widget near the Avails widget may be used toupdate prices. Prices may be quoted in CPMs and may be distinct for eachdaypart. For example, Radio Group prices may be quoted for 60 secondSpot in CPMs. The price of an 30 s may be a percentage of the price of a60 s in the same daypart. This percentage may be indicated at the top ofthe CPM widget. The percentage may be fixed and/or variable and set upwhen the Radio Group Administrator associates templates with thestations.

In an example of a CPM widget, a price of a 30 second spot is set at 66%of an 60 second spot, and an AM drive daypart (mo-fr 6a-10a) costs $8.00CPM. A Radio Group may only support pricing by CPMs, or supportalternate pricings. Total prices may be calculated based off of fixedPayout AQH numbers entered by the Radio Group Administrator. The PayoutAQH, although close to the actual AQH, may be different from actual AQHspublished by Nielsen. The Payout AQHs entered by a Radio Groupadministrator may be used for the purposes of converting CPMs to SpotRates. Inventory Managers may contact their Radio Group Administratorfor additional details and to convert Spot Rates into CPMs.

Adjust Inventory.

In one embodiment, an Inventory Manager may have to adjust inventory forvarious reasons. They may want to increase inventory to reflect thedemand generated by Radio Group, or they may want to reduce inventorysold through other channels. A ongoing process of inventory adjustmentmay be done easily by using the Avails widget and modifying the Availsto the desired number. For example, Monday to Friday 10 am to 3 pmdaypart (mo-fr 10a-3p) may have a total of five spots provisioned, ofthe five spots, four are booked and one is available. The InventoryManager may change the number of Avails to six and Save to increase thetotal number of Avails to ten. Or the reverse, the Inventory Manager maymake the number of Avails to zero and Save to reduce the provisionedAvails to just four.

Take Back Booked Inventory.

In one embodiment, an Inventory Managers is prevented from reducing theBooked inventory which may damage plans via the Inventory Managementtool. However in extreme cases, a Radio Group Administrator may manuallyreturn Booked inventory back to broadcasters. An Radio GroupAdministrator may be contacted to initiate this process.

Adjust Prices.

In one embodiment, an Inventory Manager may have to adjust prices toreflect business needs on an ongoing basis. This may be accomplished byselecting the desired week, updating CPMs, and clicking Save. InventoryManagers may update CPMs of 60 second spots, as prices of 30 secondspots may be automatically adjusted based on percentage set up in thetemplate. For instance, Inventory Managers may raise or lower CPMs ofone or more dayparts and click Save. The prices may be reflectedimmediately in the system and available for planner to use. In oneembodiment, updated prices may be used for future sales, as bookedinventory may retain their prices when billed to the advertiser/agency202/204.

Automated Give Back.

In one embodiment, Radio Group's policy may be that of giving backinventory two weeks before air time. This policy is enforced while thetemplates are being assigned to stations as 14 days. Thus, unsoldinventory may be updated to zero at two weeks before air time. In otherwords, inventory sales may stop two weeks before air time. In oneembodiment, ad exchange 810 supports sales until the ‘last minute’within the two weeks before airtime until a day/hour/minute beforeairtime.

Ongoing Inventory Provisioning.

In one embodiment, an Inventory Manager may provision inventory forupcoming months or quarters using the Extend widget. The process issimilar to initial provisioning of inventory, as described in the Extendwidget based Manual Inventory provisioning section above.

Radio Group Administrator Inventory Manager Interface.

In one embodiment, Radio Group administrators with a Network InventoryManager role also have all the capabilities of an Inventory Manager at abroadcast group.

Inventory Management. Administrator Avail Widget.

In one embodiment, a Radio Group Administrator's version of Avail widgetdiffers from a Broadcast group's Inventory Manager's view. A Broadcastgroup's Inventory Manager may only modify unbooked inventory via theAvails column. In other words, a Broadcast group's Inventory Manager isdiscouraged from taking back booked inventory as it may damage plans. Bycontrast, the Radio Group Administrator may have the ability to takeback booked inventory. One way to achieve this is by directly updatingthe Total column (Booked+Avail). The administrator widget may allow theRadio Group administrator to update the Total column.

Administrator Extend Widget.

In one embodiment, a Broadcast group's Inventory Managers may use theExtend functionality to provision fresh inventory. However they arediscouraged from updating or taking back from existing inventory usingthe Extend widget. In other words, the Broadcast group InventoryManager's version of Extend button is only enabled when all subsequentweeks have provisioned inventory. By contrast, a Radio Groupadministrator's version of the Extend widget may have the capability toboth update and take back existing inventory. The Extend button may beenabled regardless of the provisioned inventory. Existing inventory orprices may be updated by updating the Total Column in the Avails widget,clicking on Extend button, selecting the duration and clicking on Savebutton. Clicking on the “Damage Plans” checkbox may force update therequest across the entire duration and may damage plans as needed. Inone embodiment, if this checkbox is not selected, the application mayonly update the inventory and prices for the weeks where it is possibleto do so without damaging plans.

Take Back Booked Inventory.

In one embodiment, taking back booked inventory may be accomplished intwo ways. The Avails widget may be used to update the Totals to anynumber. Once saved, the inventory total may force the system to takeback booked inventory if needed. The Extend widget with the Damage Planschecked is a second option. The Extend widget makes it possible toquickly take back inventory from multiple weeks at once.

Station Management.

In one embodiment, a Stations section of Inventory Management exists toenable Radio Group Administrators to view all the stations. The list ofstations may be filtered by using a Filters button/control. A RadioGroup Administrator may filter the station list by one or more stations,partners (broadcast groups), or DMAs. The filtering tool may beconvenient to view a subset of stations.

Unrated and Controversial.

In one embodiment, a Radio Group Administrator may mark stations asUnrated or Controversial and update these settings on Stations tab.These settings may be set using checkboxes.

Global Administrator Inventory Management Interface.

In one embodiment, Global Administrators have all the capabilities ofboth a Broadcast group's Inventory Managers and a Radio GroupAdministrator along with other specific administrative tools.

Quick Start Guide Stations.

In one embodiment, a Stations section may be used to upload and managestations available within the Inventory Management platform for theselected Network. Global Administrators may click on Import Broadcasterslink to upload a CSV file with stations. The uploaded station'scontroversial and ratings flags may be manipulated on this panel.

Templates.

In one embodiment, templates, also known as contracts, are a way tocreate standard and default inventory data. Global Administrators maycreate or update templates. An Ad Network's default settings may be setbefore creating a template, for example the dayparts and Give Backduration for a Radio Group network may be standardized.

Assignments.

In one embodiment, an Assignment section helps Global Administrators toassign templates to one or more stations; these assignments may betemporary with an end date or permanent. For example, templateassignments may be done for a set period of time to allow of assigningnew templates in future.

Inventory.

In one embodiment, an Inventory section may have the same exactprivileges as a Radio Group Administrator but across all networksassigned. A Global Administrator may update inventory of any stations onall the networks assigned and may use an Extend widget similar to aRadio Group Administrator and may take back inventory even if it damagesplans, or may limit damage by unchecking a “allow plan damage” box.

Demand Side Platform 804 in Detail.

In one embodiment, a Demand Side Platform 804 and its buying experiencecomprise: an application store for Picking Networks or SpotMarketplaces; an application store for Data providers for applicableMarketplaces; allowing a different Audience book than that based onNielsen and using that for planning; different RFP screens for differentmarketplaces/data; providing rich results and/or export of data; andenabling different actions like Cancel/Replan/Split/Delete.

The Demand Side Platform 804 is described as a series of user storiesand user scenarios below:

User Scenario 1: TOS and Approval of Seats for a Marketplace.

In one embodiment, a user is a buyer for ad agency 204, and the GlobalSales team representing the programmatic ad network 206 withoutnecessarily principal ownership of inventory traded. One possible flowincludes: Agency 204 approaches Global Sales Team 206; Global Sales Teamprovides DSP Terms and Services to Agency; once Agency agrees to DSPTerms and Services and signs contract with Network 206, Agencies may beconnected with different marketplaces available on DSP; When aMarketPlace and Agency agree on TOS and sign a mutual contract,MarketPlace approves this Agency a seat and intimates Network 206. Inone embodiment, these steps are all offline. Once the seat is granted,the Network 206 may create a account for an Agency 204 user who in turnmay create additional users to DSP using the platform.

User Scenario 2: User is Able to Login.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner and/or Agency 204 Self ServiceBuyer. A Planner may be from an ad network 206 and/or broadcast group208 to help assist an advertiser 202 and/or ad agency 204 as a sellerassisted model. One possible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; usersees a login panel and may log in using the User Name and Password theyhave set as credentials.

User Scenario 3: Once Logged in, User Sees Different MarketPlaces.

In one embodiment, a user is an advertiser 202, planner and/or agency204 Self Service Buyer. One possible flow includes: a user goes to theDSP; the user sees the both Spot and Network Marketplaces that they haveaccess to. In one embodiment, a user only sees the Marketplaces theyhave access to. Logo and text for each private exchange 210 may beprovided by the corresponding Broadcast Group. The logo and text may becustomizable; for example a logo dimension should be least 300 px onshort side of image (height or width), preferably 150-300 dpi or vectorformat, and text length specified to around 100 characters.

For example, a Radio Group may include both an Audience and Spot intoone Radio Group MarketPlace. The DSP Landing page may then have both aRadio Group Marketplace representing private exchange 810, and a secondpublic exchange 810. Upon clicking the Radio Group MarketPlace, the DSP804 may display a Radio Group Advanced Dataset option, a NielsenNationWide Dataset option, and a Nielsen MSA Dataset option. If the userselects the Nielsen MSA Dataset then the DSP 804 would take them to theRadio Group Spot Buying Workflow. Alternately, upon clicking the publicMarketPlace the DSP 804 would show a Nielsen MSA Dataset option.

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are screenshots for a user interface for a demandside platform. FIG. 10A is a UI related to DSP 804 causing a pluralityof broadcast media ad networks to be displayed for selection. In theexample of FIG. 10A two broadcast media ad networks are presented to theuser John from ad agency X: one private exchange (1002), wherein allstations associated with the ad network #1 are affiliated with oneentity, and one public exchange (1004), wherein all stations associatedwith the ad network #2 are affiliated with a plurality of entities.

FIG. 10B is a UI related to DSP 804 causing a plurality data sets to bedisplayed for selection, given that the user selected the Ad Network #1private exchange (1002) in the previous screen of FIG. 10A. Three datasets are available for selection: one using third-party data from AdNetwork #1 (1052); one using first-party and/or Nielsen data forstations (1054); and one using first-party and/or Nielsen data for MSAsor metropolitan statistical areas (1056) for spot plans.

User Scenario 4: User Selects a MarketPlace to See the Plan Workbench.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user sees the workbench with Plans thatthey have access to and those that belong to the picked marketplace. Inone embodiment, a “workbench” has columns for each campaign including:Created Date; Start Date; End Date; Total Weeks; Planner; Name; Datasetused; Agency in seller assisted view (may not be present for agencybuyers); Advertiser; Budget; Status (Booked/Saved/Cancellation); Sharedby an agency (which indicates the plans Shared by Agency to the sellerin the Seller Assisted View), where this Icon may become “Shared” in theAgency View; Locked, which indicates whether a plan falls withincancellation policy or not.

FIG. 11 is a screenshot for a user interface for a demand side platformworkbench. In one embodiment, Buyers may Filter the workbench to seeplans based on one or more of the following: “Agency” to only show inseller assisted model; State; Plan Name; Active weeks; Trafficked (aboolean value); Shared; Locked (a boolean value), wherein a Locked planis a plan where any changes to the plan may violate the cancellationpolicy per the TOS of the marketplace. In an edge case, if there are noexisting plans in this marketplace/organization combination then theuser is taken directly to the data providers page.

User Scenario 5: User is Able to Pick an Appropriate Data Provider.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user clicks on a new plan on the Plan Listpage; the user sees the data providers that the user's Organization haveaccess to and applicable to the Marketplace. Examples of applicabledatasets by marketplace include for a Radio Group Audiences dataset: aRadio Group advanced dataset or a Nielsen Audio NationWide dataset.Another example for a Spot Marketplace (for a Radio Group for example)is a Nielsen MSA Dataset. Again, Logo and Text on the datasets may beconfigurable to provide quick branding identification.

User Scenario 6: Picking Radio Group Data//Completing RFP Screen.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user clicks on a new plan on the Plan Listpage; user picks the Radio Group. The User may then pick at least one ofthe following elements: Audience Category (e.g. Auto Intenders); Dropdown of available Categories; Audience Survey (e.g. Spring 2015); Dropdown of available books for that Category; Audience Segment: The valuefrom the category (e.g. BMW, Nissan); Drop down of available values forthis Category and Data Book (usually only a single cohort may beselected); Type input for Goal in Impressions; Type input for Budgetlimit; Pick Flight start and end date; Pick Locations; Pick ShowExclusions; Pick Agency (for seller assisted model)—Agency selection maynot be available for Agency buyer; Pick Advertiser; and Pick SpotLength.

User Scenario 7: Picking Nielsen Data//User is Able to Complete RFP PlanPage.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user clicks on a new plan on the Plan Listpage; the user picks Nielsen NationWide.

FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D, 12E, 12F, 12G, 12H, and 12I are screenshotsdetailing a sequence of user interfaces for a demand side platformplanning routine. FIG. 12A is a UI related to DSP 804 showing theoptions a User may pick. The User may pick at least one of the followingelements: Data book (e.g. Spring 2015); Drop down of available books forthat Category; Age; Gender; Type input for Goal in Impressions; Typeinput for Budget limit; Pick Flight start and end date; Pick Locations;Pick Show Exclusions; Pick Agency (for seller assisted model)-Agencyselection may not be available for Agency buyer; Pick Advertiser; andPick Spot Length (30 or 60). FIG. 12A includes optionally to configureadvanced goals (1202), widget to include/exclude markets/formats (1204)with the default selecting all markets/all formats, and widge toinclude/exclude shows (1206) with the default selecting all shows.

FIG. 12B is a UI related to DSP 804 showing the options a User may pickfor Reach, including by impressions or by national GRPs. FIG. 12C is aUI related to DSP 804 showing example sets of parameters/spec values for1,000,000 impressions, a budget limit of $60,000, and a flight between3/23/2015 and 4/19/2015.

User Scenario 8: Picking Spot MarketPlaces//User is Able to Fill RFPPlan Page.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a Spot marketplace; the user clicks on new plan on the PlanList page. The User may then pick at least one of the followingelements: Diary Data book (e.g. Spring 2015)—Multiple data books may beselected, AQH used by the planner may be average of the Booksused—wherein at least one diary book should be picked; PPM Data book(e.g. May 2015)—Multiple data books may be selected, AQH used by theplanner may be average of the Books used—wherein at least one PPM bookshould be picked; Age; Gender; Content Exclusions of Format and Shows;Pick Agency (for seller assisted model)—Agency selection may not beavailable for Agency buyer; Pick Advertiser; Pick Spot Length.

User Scenario 9: User is Able to Pick Advanced Goals for a NetworkMarketplace.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user clicks on a new plan on the Plan Listpage; the user picks a Radio Group or Agency Data or Nielsen. The userthen is able to input one or more of the following for the first config:Pick Goal as Impressions or National GRPS; Multiple Start and End dates;Pick Daypart distribution where the dayparts are AM Drive, MidDay, PMDrive, OverNight; Multiple Markets may be typed in or selected from thelocation picker; Buyers may then select Reach goal, Pricing goal (CPM orCPP), and Budget limit—wherein only two of Reach, Pricing, and Budgetare needed and the third is automatically calculated. Each config may beautomatically numbered in an ascending fashion, and a User may also copyconfig. Each config is numbered and each row within a config isnumbered. After the values are selected and submitted then user is takenback to the RFP screen (which may simply provide an option to editadvanced goals).

FIG. 12D is a UI related to DSP 804 showing example advanced goals(1202) for a set of parameters, that shows a goal type in impressionsand/or GRPs. The advanced goals in the example of FIG. 12D include adate range between 1/01/2016 and 1/31/2016 and a 50% AM Drive to 50% PMDrive daypart goal

FIG. 12E is a UI related to DSP 804 showing an exampleinclusion/exclusion panel for advanced goals (1202) for a set ofparameters for formats. Formats shown in FIG. 12E include AdultContemporary (AC) music in various subformats like “80 s & 90 s”, “HotAC”, “Lite AC”, “Lite Rock”, “Modern AC” and “Soft AC”, and ContemporaryHit Radio (CHR) music in various subformats like “Adult CHR”,“CHR/Rhymc”, “CHR/Top 40”, and “CHR/UrCtp” or urban contemporary CHR.The number of total formats is given, for example 59 in FIG. 12E, aswell as the number of stations for each format/subformat. In the examplegiven in FIG. 12E, “Modern AC” is a format excluded in the set ofparameters, excluding 3 stations.

FIG. 12F is a UI related to DSP 804 showing an exampleinclusion/exclusion panel for advanced goals (1202) for a set ofparameters for markets. Markets shown in FIG. 12F include markets likeNew York, N.Y., Los Angeles, Calif., Chicago, Ill., Philadelphia, Pa.,Dallas-Ft. Worth, Tex., San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif., andBoston (Manchester), MA. The number of total markets is given, forexample 210 in FIG. 12F, as well as the state and rank for each market.In the example given in FIG. 12F, “San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose,Calif.” is a market excluded in the set of parameters, excluding the6^(th) ranked market.

FIG. 12G is a UI related to DSP 804 showing a second example of advancedgoals (1202) for a set of parameters. FIG. 12G may be chronologicallyafter FIG. 12D for a given set of parameters, and shows a location of“Eugene, Oreg. & 49 others” representing 10 GRPs, $5,000 CPP, a $50,000budget limit, and a location of “New York, N.Y. & 100 others”representing 10 GRPs, $4,500 CPP, a $45,000 budget limit, to be run from1/01/2016 through 1/31/2016 with a 50% AM Drive to 50% PM Drive daypartgoal. FIG. 12G also shows a location of “Eugene, Oreg. & 99 others”representing 15 GRPs, $5,000 CPP, a $75,000 budget limit, to be run from1/19/2016-2/06/2016, 3/02/2016-3/16/2016, and 3/23/2016-4/17/2016 with a50% AM Drive to 50% PM Drive daypart goal.

FIG. 12H is a UI related to DSP 804 showing a generalinclusion/exclusion for setting location parameters (1204), which in oneembodiment is similar to the panels shown in FIGS. 12E and 12F.

FIG. 12I is a UI related to DSP 804 showing a generalinclusion/exclusion for setting show parameters (1206). In the exampleshown, shows are shown with an optional logo and a category, for exampleif a show is controversial. The example shows several shows includingthe Rush Limbaugh show, the Glenn Beck show, and the Ryan Seacrest show,the first two being controversial. FIG. 12I also indicates there are 110shows in total for inclusion/exclusion, and that the Rush Limbaugh showis excluded.

User Scenario 10: User is Able to Pick Advanced Goals for a SpotMarketplace.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user clicks on a new plan on the Plan Listpage; the user picks Nielsen MSA data. The user may then input for afirst config one or more of the following: Pick Goal as Impressions orLocal GRPS; Multiple Start and End dates; Pick Daypart distributionwhere the dayparts are AM Drive, MidDay, PM Drive, OverNight; SingleMarket or Station may be selected—as the user is typing suggestions maybe provided to the user; Buyers may then select Reach goal, Pricing goal(CPM or CPP), Budget limit—wherein only two of Reach, Pricing, Budgetare needed and the third is automatically calculated. Each config isautomatically numbered in an ascending fashion, and a User may also copyconfig. After the values are selected and submitted then user is takenback to the RFP screen (which may simply provide an option to editadvanced goals).

User Scenario 11: User Saves a Plan (Planning→Save).

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; user completes planning; user clicks on save.The result is a plan state is changed to “Save” from “Planning”. Uponclicking Save a possible message is shown: “Please note that the planinventory will only be locked after you Book this plan. Saving a planonly saves plan input and goals. [Cancel] [Save]” (wherein [X] denotes abutton with X displayed on the button).

FIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C are screenshots detailing a sequence of userinterfaces for a demand side platform overview. FIG. 13A shows details(1302) of a set of parameters/plan. In the example of FIG. 13A, a DasAuto plan includes a budget of $165,000, 35 GRPs, and $5,200 CPP inplanning with basic information for a set of parameters including a dataset (Nielsen Audio Nationwide), a data book (Spring Nationwide 2015) forthat data set, an audience (p12+), a location (all markets in 6formats), and shows (10 shows). The example shows that the plan may beviewed by details (1302), by goals (1304), and by breakdowns (1306). Theexample in FIG. 13A also displays a series of tabular Insights, forexample the Top 5/10/50 Markets, the top Markets, Dayparts, Weeks, andFormats as responsive to the plan.

FIG. 13B shows goals of a set of parameters/plan. In the example of FIG.13B, for a flight date between 3/23/2015-3/29/2015, the 2,000,000impression goal is resulting in 1,500,000 for its associated ad proposalat the time FIG. 13B is displayed, and the $500,000 budget goal isresulting in $500,000 for its associated ad proposal at the time FIG.13B is displayed.

FIG. 13C shows breakdowns of a set of parameters/plan. In the example ofFIG. 13C, for the plan a breakdown may be shown by markets, formats,and/or shows, and happens to show by market in FIG. 13C. For eachmarket, the proposal impressions, GRPs, and spots are displayed to givea breakdown by market.

User Scenario 12: User Books a Plan (Save→Book).

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; user completes planning and the plan is inSave state; user clicks on Book. The result is that in the event theHealth of plan is less than 100% a an example message is shown (for 90%Health): “10% of your plan inventory is no longer available. You canbook the remaining 90% as is, or replan. [Replan] [Book]” FIG. 14 is ascreenshot to show booking a plan with less than full health.Alternately, if the Health of plan is 100% or if the user decides tobook even if the health is less than 100%, the system proceeds to bookby showing a message to agree with the TOS: “By booking the plan, youare agreeing to the Terms and Services. [Replan] [Book]”. All bookedplans may become visible to supply side planners.

An important edge case handled is when booking a saved plan thattriggers unbooking of a second plan (that is within the violationpolicy) then a message is displayed, for example “The plan you arebooking will automatically un-book another plan, causing a violation tothe Terms and Services agreement on that plan. Please cancel that planbefore booking this one. (Plan affected shown).” This scenario is asfollows: Plan A is Booked; user replans Plan A to create a Plan B; ifthe user wants to book Plan B then Plan A should be canceled, and atthis point it may trigger a TOS violation on Plan A.

User Scenario 13: User Splits a Plan by Date Range.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user may split a plan into two using adate (before the date and after the date). For example, the date mayonly be end of a broadcast week, wherein splits may not be allowed in amiddle of a broadcast week. One result may be that two plans are createdsplit at the date picked.

User Scenario 14: User Cancels a Booked Plan without ViolatingCancellation Policy.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; user completes planning; user clicks onCancel. One result is that a message is shown: “Are you sure you want tocancel your plan? [Do Not Cancel] [Cancel Plan]”. One error case caughtis if the plan is part of a campaign a message is displayed: “The planyou are trying to modify/delete is part of one or multiple campaigns.Please remove it from those campaigns first before modifying it.”

User Scenario 15: User Cancels a Plan when the Plan Violates theCancellation Policy.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; user books a plan; user clicks on Cancel. Onepossible result when the plan violates the cancellation policy isshowing a message to the user where the date is calculated as per theTerms and Service of each marketplace, Date {dd/mm/yyyy} is calculatedusing the cancellation policy per the marketplace and last week. ForExample: If MarketPlace cancellation policy is 2 weeks, Date iscalculated as the end of broadcast week starting now to 2 weeks out; if2 weeks out is a Wed then that week Sun may be the calculated date.Cancellation policies may be different for different marketplaces. Theshown message is: “Cancelling your plan now violates the Terms andServices agreement. If you wish to cancel, any inventory booked betweennow and {dd/mm/yyyy} cannot be changed without penalty. To cancel onlyinventory that is not locked, you can split the plan at {dd/mm/yyyy} toseparate the locked inventory. You can then cancel the plan starting{dd/mm/yyyy}. You can also cancel your entire plan. According to ourTerms and Services, you will be invoiced for booked inventory betweennow and {dd/mm/yyyy}. [Do Not Cancel][Cancel Plan]”

User Scenario 16: User Replan a Booked Plan that Doesn't Violate Termsand Services.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; user completes planning, user clicks onReplan. One possible result is to take the user to an RFP page and afterthey make changes and click submit, with a message showing replanoptions: “Replan options include: New Revision—This will alter theconfiguration of an RFP but the resulting plan(s) will not be anchoredto the original plan; Anchored revision restricted to originalplacements—The new plan(s) will be anchored to the original plan andonly allowed to use its placements. This is the more restrictive optionthat guarantees no additive changes to the lineup; Anchored revisionrestricted to original sites—The new plan(s) will be anchored to theoriginal plan and only allowed to use its sites. This is a restrictiveoption that keeps the structure of the lineup intact but may choose toincrease placements; Anchored revision and allow new sites—The newplan(s) will be anchored to the original plan and use its placement withpreference. However, the resulting plan(s) may also use new sites if thegoals cannot be met with the original sites only.” FIG. 15 is ascreenshot to show replanning a booked plan.

User Scenario 17: User Replans a Plan that Violates Terms and Services.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; user completes planning, user clicks onReplan. One possible result when the re-planned plan violates a policyis showing a message to the user where the date is calculated as per theTerms and Service of each marketplace, Date {dd/mm/yyyy} is calculatedusing the cancellation policy per the marketplace and last week. ForExample: If MarketPlace cancellation policy is 2 weeks, Date iscalculated as the end of broadcast week starting now to 2 weeks out; if2 weeks out is a Wed then that week Sun may be the calculated date.Cancellation policies may be different for different marketplaces. Theshown message is: “Replanning your plan now violates the Terms andServices agreement. If you wish to replan, any inventory booked betweennow and {dd/mm/yyyy} cannot be changed without penalty. To change theother weeks, you can split the plan at {dd/mm/yyyy} to separate thelocked inventory. You can then replan the plan starting dd/mm/yyyy.”

User Scenario 18: User Clones a Plan.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user may clone a saved or booked plan byselecting the “clone” action. One possible result is that the the useris taken to the RFP page with all details filled, and the user cannotchange “Marketplace” or “Dataset”.

User Scenario 20: User May Launch a Plan into a Campaign.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user may click on a plan and take the“Launch” action. One possible result is that the plan is launched into acampaign. All Booked plans may be visible to supply side planners. MSAsmay be used instead of DMAs in a spot marketplace. In the event a planin a campaign is cancelled, a message is shown “This plan is part of oneor more campaigns. Please remove it from those campaigns beforemodifying or canceling [affected campaigns displayed].” Event rules areconfigured by a Marketplace and the availability of datasets for auser's organization. Event rules under campaigns may only be visible tousers if the marketplace has event rules and if their organization hasan event dataset associated with the marketplace.

User Scenario 21: User May Export Data.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user may click on a plan and take the“Export” action. One possible result is that the user may download oneor more of the following: Metrics as CSV; Export as Proposal XML; andExport Lineups.

User Scenario 22: An Agency User May Share a Plan with “MarketPlace”Sellers.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user may click on a plan and take the“Share” action. One possible result is that the Agency Plan is Sharedwith the “MarketPlace” Sellers, and/or a message may be shown to AgencyBuyers “Your Plan may be shared with [MarketPlace] sellers”.

User Scenario 23: An Agency User May Un-Share a Plan that has beenPreviously Shared with “MarketPlace” Sellers.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user may click on a plan and set the“Share” action; then the user desires to un-share the plan by unsettingthe “Share” action, e.g. by asserting an “Un-Share” action. One possibleresult is that the Agency Plan previously Shared with the “MarketPlace”Sellers is unShared. A message may be shown to the Agency Buyers “YourPlan may now be un-shared with [MarketPlace] sellers and [MarketPlace]sellers won't be able to view your plan”.

User Scenario 24: User May See Specs on the Results Page.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user may click on a plan and take the“Export” action. One possible result is that the user may view thespecs, including a plan name, data set, data book, audience, buyer,seller, and notes. The panel may also include a table for the TopMarkets summary, Dayparts summary, Formats summary, Weeks summary, andMarkets summary.

FIGS. 16A, 16B, and 16C are screenshots detailing a sequence of userinterfaces for a demand side platform campaign. FIG. 16A shows details(1602) of an ad campaign, and shows widgets for uploading ad creative(1604) associated with the campaign, event rules (1606) associated withthe campaign and rotations (1608) associated with the campaign. In theexample of FIG. 16A, a Clothing advertiser campaign for Spring 2015 isbeing run on Ad Network #1 plan for six weeks between03/23/2015-05/18/2016, using a third-party dataset called Ad Network #1Audience, with a demographic dataset target of p18-49, impressiondataset target of 1,000,000, and a dataset budget of $60,000. In oneembodiment, multiple budgets may be provided in the event that buyershave multiple constraints that they would like the DSP to consider inbuilding out a plan. Changing said parameters may provide very differentresults. In the example given, the campaign budget is $300,000, thecampaign impression target is 2,413,100, the campaign CPM target is$5.04, the campaign GRP target is 3.838, the campaign CPP target is$3,166, and the status of the campaign is booked, also known ascommitted and/or purchased.

As part of the details (1602), basic information is given such as aname, type, seller, and buyer, as well as specs such as the campaignaudience targeted, which in FIG. 16A is given as Conservative voters inview of the third-party Ad Network #1 Political data, and peopleintending to buy an Audi, BMW, and Lexus in view of the third-party AdNetwork #1 Auto Intenders data. The example in FIG. 16A also displays aseries of tabular Insights similar to that of FIG. 13A, for example thetop Markets, Formats, Stations, DMAs, Weeks, and Dayparts as responsiveto the campaign.

FIG. 16B shows event rules (1606) of an ad campaign. In the exampleshown, there are three event rules: one for shorts associated with a Q1Apparel data set, to be run when events and/or weather values are warm,for example during a summer day; one for jackets associated with a Q1Apparel data set, to be run when events and/or weather values arenormal; and one for scarves associated with a Q1 Apparel data set, to berun when events and/or weather values are cold, for example during afreak snow storm one day.

FIG. 16C shows rotations (1608) of an ad campaign. In the example shown,a mapping of dayparts, event rules (1606), ad creatives is given for thead campaign. For all dayparts, or mo-fri 6a-7p, the new seasonal shortsad creative is to be played when the shorts event rule is asserted, thelight jackets ad creative is to be played when the jackets event rule isasserted, the cashmere scarves ad creative is to be played when thescarves event rule is asserted, and otherwise the Q1 apparel sales adcreative is to be played, for the targeted 7 markets/6 formats/30stations between 5/04/2015-06/28/2015.

User Scenario 25: User May Edit Specs on Network Marketplaces.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user selects the plan they want to edit;user clicks on an “Edit” icon. One possible result is that the user mayedit: Buyer name; Seller name; and/or a generic text field like Notes.

User Scenario 26: User May Edit Specs on Spot Marketplaces.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user selects the plan they want to edit;user clicks on an “Edit” icon. One possible result is that the user mayedit: Buyer name; Seller name; and/or a generic text field like Notes.

User Scenario 27: User May View Goals.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user goes to a plan results page. Onepossible result is that the user may view Goals as a set of summarytables, showing the Top Markets (e.g. Top 5 Markets with associated $and %, Top 10 Markets with associated $ and %, and Top 50 Markets withassociated $ and % and a pointer to show details), Markets (e.g. Topthree MSAs with associated GRPs, $, and % and a pointer to showdetails), Dayparts (Top Dayparts with associated $ and % and a pointerto show details), Weeks (e.g. Top three weeks with associated $ and %and a pointer to show details), and Formats (Top Formats like Country,Cisc Rock, or Urban AC, with associated $ and % and a pointer to showdetails). The goals may be in the format of “Advanced Goals” that wasinput in, and for every input there may also be an output on what couldbe accomplished for the goal. The output may be color coded; if Outputis within 10% of Input then the Output is color coded as Red, if Outputgreater or less than 10% of Input then the Output is color coded asGreen.

In an alternate embodiment, goals show a Total Budget, a date range, adaypart distribution, and a result in Markets, showing for each row aset of Market/Stations and their associated Input and Result GRPs, Inputand Result CPP, and Input/Result/Difference for the Budget.

User Scenario 28: User May View Insights.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user is on a plan results page; the userclicks on an Insights tab. One possible result is that Insights arepresented with various tables. On Network plans the tables may containreach whereas in Spot Plans the tables may contain dollar amounts. Somespecific examples of tables include: Top Markets; Ordered by Reach[GRPs/Impressions] if Network; Ordered by Dollars in the top marketsbucket if Spot; Individual Markets; Dayparts; Weeks; and Formats.

User Scenario 29: User May View Breakdowns.

In one embodiment, a user is a Planner or Agency Self Service Buyer. Onepossible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; theuser picks a marketplace; the user is on a plan results page; the userclicks on a Breakdowns tab. One possible result is that First and Seconddimension group by's are supported with the following: Format; Market(Market Rank is metadata for Market); Station (Market and Market Rank ismetadata for Station dimension); Daypart; and Week. The same group-bymay not be able to be picked on both first and second dimension but restof the group-bys may be combined. Columns for a possible table include:Impressions—This metric is Summable and includes at least two columns,one for Impressions Number, and one for % of Impressions across the plan(% may add up to 100%); GRPs—GRPs are shown for Nielsen NationWide andSpot. But not necessarily for a Radio Group Audience, For NielsenNationWide GRPs are summable for Nielsen NationWide, and GRPs have atleast two columns for GRP count and % of the Plan (% may add up to100%), For Spot GRPs are not necessarily summable for Spot so GRPs haveat least one column of GRP count; Spots—Spots have at least two columnsfor Spot Count and % of Spot across the plan; Price/CPM/CPP—madeavailable for Spot on both Seller Assisted and Self Service, Network(Available on Supply Side and not necessarily Available on SelfService); In Self Service Mode for Spot Marketplaces (but notnecessarily for Network)—Price (where Price is summable, and Priceincludes two columns for Price and %), CPM where the total CPM is theCPM for the entire buy and CPM has at least one column as the CPM valuefor that row; CPP—In Network, the total CPP is the CPP for the entirebuy whereas in Spot, the total CPP may not be available, and CPP has atleast one column as the CPP value for that row. The available Filtersinclude: Format; Market; Station; Week; Daypart. The user may alsodownload all data in the view as a CSV.

User Scenario 30: A Limited Set of Users on the Supply Side May beProvided with an Ability to Perform Price Overrides.

In one embodiment, a user is a MarketPlace Planner. One possible flowincludes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; the user picks amarketplace; the user is on a plan results page; the user clicks on aPricing tab. One possible result is that pricing data may be displayedas a table including Price, Impressions, CPM, GRPs, CPP, Spots, Adj (%),Pricing, Overplays; and Reported as column headers for each Config. ThisUI may be exactly the same as that for Pricing Overrides. Group By ofthe pricing table may be performed using configs instead of targets.This pricing edit feature may only be accessible to a select set ofMarketplace/users as requested by the marketplace.

User Scenario 31: A Limited Set of Users on the Supply Side May beProvided with an Ability to Reserve a Plan for the Agency.

In one embodiment, a user is a MarketPlace Planner. One possible flowincludes: an agency user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; the userpicks a marketplace; the user creates a plan; the user saves a plan; theuser shares the plan with MarketPlace. One possible result is that aMarketPlace planner may see the plan shared by the agency, and/or theMarketPlace planner may reserve the plan for the agency.

User Scenario 32: Revoking an Agency Seat on a MarketPlace.

In one embodiment, a user is a MarketPlace Seller. One possible flowincludes: a MarketPlace informs programmatic ad network 206 that theywould like to revoke an Agency Seat; programmatic ad network 206 thenchanges the Agency access to view only where this agency users may viewcurrent and old plans but cannot create new plans/campaigns.

User Scenario 33: Managing Audience Dataset Access for an Agency on aMarketPlace//Radio Group.

In one embodiment, one possible flow includes: Audience dataset providercreates a dataset; the dataset is tagged with an Dataset External ID;MarketPlace//Radio Group sellers/planners may go to DSP 804 and collectthe Agency “Internal” ID; Each Agency may be tagged with a ID in DSP804; MarketPlace//Radio Group sellers/planners inform programmatic adnetwork 206 that Agency “Internal” ID may get access to Dataset ExternalID; programmatic ad network 206 then provides access to this Dataset tothe identified Agency. In one embodiment, an edge case that is handledincludes: if Agency doesn't have any Radio Group Audience Dataset thenthe Radio Group Advanced Dataset is not visible on Dataset selectionpage.

User Scenario 34: Managing Conditional (Event) Dataset Access for anAgency on a MarketPlace//Radio Group.

In one embodiment, one possible flow includes: Weather event providercreates a dataset; the dataset is tagged with an Dataset External ID;MarketPlace//Radio Group sellers/planners may go to DSP 804 and collectthe Agency “Internal” ID; each Agency may be tagged with a ID in DSP804; MarketPlace//Radio Group sellers/planners inform programmatic adnetwork 206 that Agency “Internal” ID may get access to Dataset ExternalID; programmatic ad network 206 then provides access to this conditionalDataset to the identified Agency. One possible edge case that is handledincludes: if an Agency does not have any Radio Group ConditionalDatasets then: the Event Rules Tab under Campaigns is not visible; andthe Event Rules Column is not visible under Rotations Tab of Campaign.

User Scenario 35: When a Buyer on Radio Group Network Using Radio GroupAudience Dataset Performs Targeting by Selecting an Audience SegmentShow a Message Warning the User that Refinements could Increase Cost ofPlan.

In one embodiment, a user is a Supply side planner or an Agency Buyer.One possible flow includes: a user goes to the DSP; the user logs in;the user picks a Radio Group marketplace; the user picks a Radio Groupadvanced dataset; the user creates a plan; the user picks an audiencesegment. One possible result includes: showing a message selection of anAudience Segment that states “Please note: as you add refinements, thecost of your plan may increase”; the message may stay on the Plan pageas long as the user is on the plan page (if the user leaves the planpage and comes back, the message may not be brought back); Thenotification message may be dismissed by closing the notificationmessage (once the notification message is dismissed the notification maynot be shown again after further interaction during this current plan).

User Scenario 36: Save→Book New Experience from Supply Side.

In one embodiment, a user is a supply side network planner. One possibleflow includes: Supply side planner goes to the DSP; the user logs in;the user picks a Radio Group Marketplace; the user picks a Radio Groupadvanced dataset; the user creates a plan; the user saves the plan; theuser now wants to book the plan. Possible changes include: the abilityto Damage and Heal even Saved plans, not just Reserved/Booked plans;ability to show health in a Plan Details Summary; and based on theHealth the Planner may decide to book, reserve or none of the above. Inone embodiment, health is represented as a percentage from 0 to 100%.

User Scenario 37: Save→Book New Experience for an Agency Buyer.

In one embodiment, a user is an agency buyer. One possible flowincludes: agency user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; the user picksa Radio Group Marketplace; the user picks a Radio Group advanceddataset; the user creates a plan; the user saves the plan; the user nowwants to book the plan. Possible changes include: the ability to Damageand Heal even Saved plans, not just Reserved/Booked plans; ifHealth >98% booking may be allowed, with an edge case for the event whenhealth drops lower than 98% when the user clicked the book button butthe booking hasn't finished wherein a message is recited “Some inventoryin your plan is no longer available. To repair plan damage, pleasereplan”; if Health <98% don't allow for booking with the followingmessage shown “Some inventory in your plan is no longer available.Please replan to heal damage before booking”, and the user is allowed toreplan.

User Scenario 38: Users May Delete a Saved Plan.

In one embodiment, a user is an network planner or agency buyer. Onepossible flow includes: agency user goes to the DSP; the user logs in;the user picks a Radio Group Marketplace; the user picks a Radio Groupadvanced dataset; the user creates a plan; the user saves the plan; theuser now wants to delete the plan. One possible result is that the usermay delete a saved plan, for example from an Action bar.

User Scenario 39: Changes to Cancel/Replan/Split for Agency Buyers.

In one embodiment, a user is an agency buyer. One possible flowincludes: agency user goes to the DSP; the user logs in; the user picksa Radio Group Marketplace; the user picks a Radio Group advanceddataset; the user creates a plan; the user saves/books the plan. Onepossible change includes: agency buyers may no longer cancel a bookedplan (may remove the Cancel Action on Booked Plans); agency buyers mayno longer split a saved/reserved/booked plan (may remove the SplitAction on Saved/Reserved/Booked Plans); and agency buyers may no longerreplan a booked plan (may remove the Replan Action on Booked Plans). Inone embodiment, a supply side representative may effect these actions.

User Scenario 40: Homepage (Channel Page) Changes.

In one embodiment, a user is an agency buyer or a self service buyer.One possible flow includes: upon an agency getting a seat on a RadioGroup Marketplace, the agency gets an email with a link to a DSP; theagency user goes to the DSP; the user logs in. One possible result isthat the user sees a Radio Group Audiences Marketplace and a tile called“Other MarketPlaces”. One possible set of changes include: only a firstRadio Group Audience is shown along with “Other MarketPlaces” tile; whenthe user clicks “Other MarketPlaces” then all other marketplaces aredisplayed.

User Scenario 401: Channel Page Changes.

In one embodiment, a user is an agency buyer or a self service buyer.One possible flow includes: upon an agency getting a seat on a RadioGroup Marketplace, the agency gets an email with a link to a DSP; theagency user goes to the DSP; the user logs in. One possible result isthat the user sees this specific Marketplace and a tile called “OtherMarketPlaces”. One possible set of changes includes: only this specificMarketPlace is shown along with “Other MarketPlaces” tile; when the userclicks “Other MarketPlaces” then all other marketplaces are displayed;though the transition on clicking “Other MarketPlaces” may keep the useron the same page, the click may create a new link which may bebookmarked so that the user may directly go to the channel page with allmarketplaces when desired. Vanity URLs may be offered for ease ofretention.

User Scenario 41: Changes to Replan Message.

In one embodiment, a user is an agency buyer or a network planner. Inone embodiment, replan page messages include: “Would you like the newrevision of your plan to be shaped like the original plan? You mayrestrict the new plan to only use the stations the original did. Also,you may restrict the new plan to only have as many plays in each week ofeach station as the original plan did”; “Same Stations, Limit PlayCounts. The new plan might have fewer plays in some station-weeks, butit won't have more”; “Same Stations, Increase Play Counts, if Needed. Informing the plan, we first satisfy as much of the goal as we may withoutincreasing play counts. If we need to, we then finish off the plan byadding plays where we need to”; “Increase Stations, Increase PlayCounts, if Needed. As above, in forming the plan, we satisfy as much ofthe goal as we may without using additional stations or increasing playcounts. If we need to, we then finish off the plan by adding stationsand adding plays where we need to”; “Plan independently. This may shapethe new plan independently of the shape the old plan had. The new planmay choose from all the stations allowed by your configuration and putas many plays in each week of each station as it needs to.”

User Scenario 42: Changes to Replan Conflict Message when a NetworkPlanner Books/Reserves a Plan in a RFP that Already has aBooked/Reserved Plan.

In one embodiment, a user is a network planner. In one embodiment,replan conflict page messages when trying to reserve and/or bookinclude: “The following plan is a revision of the current plan and tworevisions cannot be reserved/booked at the same time. It should becancelled before you may reserve/book this plan.”

User Scenario 43: Changes to Replan Conflict Message when an AgencyBuyer Books/Reserves a Plan in a RFP that Already has a Booked/ReservedPlan.

In one embodiment, a user is a network planner. In one embodiment,replan conflict page messages when trying to reserve and/or bookinclude: “The following plan is a revision of the current plan and tworevisions cannot be reserved/booked at the same time. It should becancelled before you may reserve/book this plan”; “Please contact theMarketplace at 999-99-9999 to cancel the conflicting plan.”

FIG. 17 is an illustration of a flow chart for a demand side platform.In one embodiment, the flow chart of FIG. 17 is processed by demand sideplatform 804 in FIG. 8.

In step 1702, a selection of a broadcast media ad network (206) and aset of parameters (or a plan) including one or both of a goal and aconstraint associated with an advertising campaign is received. In oneembodiment, the selection is made using a user interface as illustratedfor example in FIGS. 10A-10B. In one embodiment, the set of parametersis input as a plan as illustrated for example in FIGS. 12A-12I.

In step 1704, an advertising proposal is determined, based at least inpart on said selection and said set of parameters. The advertisingproposal comprises an identification of a set of broadcasters associatedwith the selected broadcast media ad network and for each acorresponding advertising plan portion of the advertising proposal. Inone embodiment, the advertising proposal is illustrated for example inFIGS. 13A-13C.

In one embodiment, the advertising proposal comprises a summaryinformation comprising a daypart, and/or detailed information withregards to a specific placement. The summary information may includeenough detail to make a reasonably informed buying decision withoutrevealing all details to permit circumvention of the ad exchange and/orbuying process for the buyer to go directly to each station 210, and/orpermit market manipulation.

In step 1706, information representing the advertising proposal iscaused to be displayed at a node from which said selection and set ofparameters were received, for example the web browser and/or mobilebrowser that an advertiser 202 and/or ad agency 204 is accessing demandside platform 804. In one embodiment, the advertising proposal isdisplayed using a user interface as illustrated for example in FIGS.13A-13C and as part of a greater campaign in FIGS. 16A-16C.

In one embodiment, the DSP 804 causes an interface for changing an inputassociated with the set of parameters in the event a user wishes toiterate a next advertising proposal. An example is shown in FIGS.12B-12I wherein the user may go back to an existing saved campaign andrevise their plan/set of parameters.

In one embodiment, the goal is at least one of the following:demographics, demo-match, and number of impressions. In one embodiment,the constraint is at least one of the following: budget and priceefficiency. In one embodiment, the parameter is at least one of thefollowing: time campaign starts and time campaign ends. In oneembodiment, the broadcast media is at least one of the following: linearbroadcast, streaming, and hybrid linear/streaming.

In a step (not shown in FIG. 17), a booking control for booking theadvertising proposal is displayed at the node from which said selectionand set of parameters were received (web browser). In one embodiment, anexample of this is shown in FIG. 14 with the green button “Book”. In oneembodiment, the DSP 804 attempts to fulfill the advertising proposal inthe event the booking control is asserted. Attempting to fulfill theadvertising proposal comprises, in the event that at the time thebooking control is asserted the advertising proposal cannot becompletely fulfilled comprises presenting at least one of the followingselections: healing completely; healing completely and notify user ofoptions; healing best efforts; and healing best efforts and notify userof options. An example of such a user interface response is given inFIG. 14. In one embodiment, the DSP 804 causes an interface foruploading an ad creative associated with the ad campaign, for example asshown in FIG. 16 (1604).

In a step (not shown in FIG. 17), the DSP 804 submits the advertisingproposal to ad exchange(s) 810/880 via the communication interface usinga demand side interface as shown in FIGS. 8A-8B. In one embodiment, theDSP 804 receives a communication from the ad exchange(s) 810/880 in theevent they use a planning algorithm to change the advertising campaign,wherein the ad exchange changes the advertising campaign as a result ofoptimizing globally across different advertising campaigns and users.Examples of the planning algorithm include those flowcharts depicted inFIGS. 6-7.

In one embodiment, the communication interface of DSP 804 is coupled viathe Internet to an ad exchange inventory database 822 using for examplethe demand side interface, wherein the ad exchange inventory database822 is input via a complementary inventory management platform 834. Inone embodiment, the node (user's browser) is coupled via the Internet toan advertiser dashboard 862 comprising a user interface to providereporting for previously purchased plans, audio affidavits, and progresstowards fulfillment.

Although the foregoing embodiments have been described in some detailfor purposes of clarity of understanding, the invention is not limitedto the details provided. There are many alternative ways of implementingthe invention. The disclosed embodiments are illustrative and notrestrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system to facilitate purchase of advertisingvia broadcast media, comprising: a communication interface; and aprocessor coupled to the communication interface and configured to:receive via the communication interface a selection of a broadcast mediaad network and a set of parameters including one or both of a goal and aconstraint associated with an advertising campaign; provide an interfacefor directly uploading an ad creative associated with the ad campaign tobe played on a plurality of real-time media-delivery appliances each ina corresponding one of a plurality of broadcast stations; wherein eachreal-time media-delivery appliance in the plurality of real-timemedia-delivery appliances is coupled directly to a terrestrial radiobroadcast mixer in the corresponding one of the plurality of broadcaststations, and wherein each real-time media-delivery appliance in theplurality of real-time media-delivery appliances comprises: an audiocodec; a capability to directly play the ad creative via the terrestrialradio broadcast mixer; and a capability to directly monitor outputin-band of the terrestrial radio broadcast mixer; wherein each broadcaststation of the plurality of broadcast stations is a terrestrial radiobroadcast station with an FCC ID (Federal Communications CommissionIdentifier) and DMA (Designated Market Area); determine based at leastin part on said selection and said set of parameters an advertisingproposal, the advertising proposal including an identification of a setof broadcasters associated with the selected broadcast media ad networkbased at least in part on each broadcast station's FCC ID and DMA, andfor each a corresponding advertising plan portion of the advertisingproposal; and cause information representing the advertising proposal tobe displayed at a node from which said selection and set of parameterswere received.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to cause a plurality of broadcast media ad networksto be displayed for selection.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein one ofthe plurality of broadcast media ad networks to be displayed is at leastone of the following: private, wherein all stations associated with thead network are affiliated with one entity, and public, wherein allstations associated with the ad network are affiliated with a pluralityof entities.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein a first ad network of theplurality of broadcast media ad networks to be displayed may beassociated with a different data set than a second ad network of theplurality of broadcast media ad networks to be displayed.
 5. The systemof claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to receive aselection between a first-party data set and the different data set tobe applied to the first ad network.
 6. The system of claim 5, whereinthe advertising proposal comprises a summary information comprising adaypart.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the summary informationincludes detailed information with regards to a specific placement. 8.The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured tocause a booking control for booking the advertising proposal to bedisplayed at the node from which said selection and set of parameterswere received.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor isfurther configured to attempt to fulfill the advertising proposal in theevent the booking control is asserted.
 10. The system of claim 9,wherein to attempt to fulfill the advertising proposal comprises, in theevent that at the time the booking control is asserted the advertisingproposal cannot be completely fulfilled comprises presenting at leastone of the following selections: healing completely; healing completelyand notify user of options; healing best efforts; and healing bestefforts and notify user of options.
 11. The system of claim 10, whereinthe processor is further configured to submit the advertising proposalto an ad exchange via the communication interface using a demand sideinterface.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to receive a communication from the ad exchange in the eventthe ad exchange uses a planning algorithm to change the advertisingcampaign, wherein the ad exchange changes the advertising campaign as aresult of optimizing globally across different advertising campaigns andusers, wherein optimizing globally comprises at least one of: optimizingat least one of a supply side and a demand side across a plurality ofadvertising campaigns; achieving objectives of the plurality ofadvertising campaigns collectively with a maximum fill of ad spots; andachieving objectives of the plurality of advertising campaignscollectively with a maximum ROI to the plurality of broadcast stations.13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configuredto cause an interface for changing an input associated with the set ofparameters in the event a user wishes to iterate a next advertisingproposal.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein: the goal is at least oneof the following: demographics, demo-match, and number of impressions;the constraint is at least one of the following: budget and priceefficiency; the parameter is at least one of the following: timecampaign starts and time campaign ends.
 15. The system of claim 14,wherein the broadcast media is at least one of the following: linearbroadcast, streaming, and hybrid linear/streaming.
 16. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the communication interface is coupled via theInternet to an ad exchange inventory database, wherein the ad exchangeinventory database is input via a complementary inventory managementplatform.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the node is coupled viathe Internet to an advertiser dashboard comprising a user interface toprovide reporting for previously purchased plans, audio affidavits, andprogress towards fulfillment.
 18. A method, comprising: receiving aselection of a broadcast media ad network and a set of parametersincluding one or both of a goal and a constraint associated with anadvertising campaign; providing an interface for directly uploading anad creative associated with the ad campaign to be played on a pluralityof real-time media-delivery appliances each in a corresponding one of aplurality of broadcast stations; wherein each real-time media-deliveryappliance in the plurality of real-time media-delivery appliances iscoupled directly to a terrestrial radio broadcast mixer in thecorresponding one of the plurality of broadcast stations, and whereineach real-time media-delivery appliance in the plurality of real-timemedia-delivery appliances comprises: an audio codec; a capability todirectly play the ad creative via the to terrestrial radio broadcastmixer; and a capability to directly monitor output in-band of theterrestrial radio broadcast mixer; wherein each broadcast station of theplurality of broadcast stations is a terrestrial radio broadcast stationwith an FCC ID (Federal Communications Commission Identifier) and DMA(Designated Market Area); determining based at least in part on saidselection and said set of parameters an advertising proposal, theadvertising proposal including an identification of a set ofbroadcasters associated with the selected broadcast media ad networkbased at least in part on each broadcast station's FCC ID and DMA, andfor each a corresponding advertising plan portion of the advertisingproposal; and causing information representing the advertising proposalto be displayed at a node from which said selection and set ofparameters were received.
 19. A computer program product, the computerprogram product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium and comprising computer instructions for: receiving aselection of a broadcast media ad network and a set of parametersincluding one or both of a goal and a constraint associated with anadvertising campaign; providing an interface for directly uploading anad creative associated with the ad campaign to be played on a pluralityof real-time media-delivery appliances each in a corresponding one of aplurality of broadcast stations; wherein each real-time media-deliveryappliance in the plurality of real-time media-delivery appliances iscoupled directly to a terrestrial radio broadcast mixer in thecorresponding one of the plurality of broadcast stations, and whereineach real-time media-delivery appliance in the plurality of real-timemedia-delivery appliances comprises: an audio codec; a capability todirectly play the ad creative via the terrestrial radio broadcast mixer;and a capability to directly monitor output in-band of the terrestrialradio broadcast mixer; wherein each broadcast station of the pluralityof broadcast stations is a terrestrial radio broadcast station with anFCC ID (Federal Communications Commission Identifier) and DMA(Designated Market Area); determining based at least in part on saidselection and said set of parameters an advertising proposal, theadvertising proposal including an identification of a set ofbroadcasters associated with the selected broadcast media ad networkbased at least in part on each broadcast station's FCC ID and DMA, andfor each a corresponding advertising plan portion of the advertisingproposal; and causing information representing the advertising proposalto be displayed at a node from which said selection and set ofparameters were received.